Havelock – the Greenshell Mussel Capital of the World - is a small town at the entrance to Pelorus Sound – an hour’s drive from each of Picton and Blenheim, and little more than an hour to Nelson. The picturesque Queen Charlotte Driveway links Picton and Havelock, passing through Linkwater, the place where an engineering project yet to be realized could link Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds.

Along the Drive are artists in residence, and holiday homes and public accommodation options. Maori tourism is ready to make its mark in this neighbourhood from a vantage point above Havelock.

Havelock - and Picton - have marinas. Scheduled mail boat services and mussel cruises, unscheduled water taxis and barges, business and personal pleasure craft ply into the Pelorus and beyond from Havelock. These are the essential services in a vast area with few roads, few people, much water, much bush.

Havelock has cafes, fresh bread shops, restaurants – and as well as services for visitors, such as fishing expeditions.

It also has services for road and marine transport, and suppliers for long-term residents and holiday makers in the inner and outer Sounds. It has a museum, art and gift retailers. It has memorials to famous sons, scientists William Pickering and Ernst Rutherford.

Motels, campgrounds and youth hostel rooms – in walking distance of cafes and other services - support Havelock’s visitors.

The many kilometers of coast line in the Sounds serviced from Havelock are dotted with a seaside bach here, a fine new home there – the classic New Zealand holiday homes.

Pelorus Sounds, Keneperu, Mahau Sounds, French Pass and D’Urville Island, and other isolated neighbourhoods in this large area have homestays, cottages and resorts for visitors. The distance and isolation means hosts and visitors approach holidays in a self contained way – each place will have its own stories and attractions to share, often about pioneering in these oases in the wilderness.

Updated 11 November 2009