Access

Ranui Street is the first on the left after Queen Charlotte College and the new subdivision on entering Waikawa. At the start of the track there is an unmarked track (not the Picton Waikawa Track) which leads 15 minutes uphill. This is separate from the mountain bike track. It’s a bit scabby through the gorse and joins the end of the gravel road from Harbour View carpark. The start of the track is shortly signposted to the right.

Harbour View Carpark is the preferable place to start. To reach Harbour View carpark by car from Picton centre, follow Waikawa Road and take the fourth on the left into Sussex Street (Victoria Domain signposted). Continue 1.7 km to the ridge summit and parking area by the locked gate. This is a one-way road. Watch for walkers. Park at the locked gate and continue 30 minutes to the low point in the ridge where the start of the track is signposted to the right.

Track

The metalled track undulates along the ridge top. There are views west to the bays of Queen Charlotte Sound, from Onahau Bay to Blackwood Bay. These culminate after 30 minutes at the Queen Charlotte Viewpoint, which looks straight up the axis of the sound. The snouts of the protruding headlands interweave in harmony. You can easily imagine how this was once a valley system before inundation by the sea. An information panel provides a panorama with the bays named and some history.

The track continues 40 minutes through broadleaf forest of five finger and mahoe. There are area of lycopodium and manuka.

When wet you can almost ski down the track, which finally exits at the snout of the Snout. Sit on the bench and watch the busy waterway with the seagulls soaring.

On the return it’s two steps forward and one step back. Views of the Picton ferry terminal come to view after the Queen Charlotte Lookout.

Flora

Original vegetation cover was probably hard beech forest with pukatea/tawa forest in the gullies. Fires for grazing denuded this cover and although regeneration occurred other accidental fires, the most recent in 1963, have hindered substantial regrowth. Various stages of secondary succession now form a patchwork of differing forest types including scrub, low tea-tree forest and introduced species such as gorse and broom.

Polynesian History

One Maori name for the Snout was Te Ihu Moene, referring to a 30 cm worm, a prized food for both humans and kiwis. The legend goes it became a taniwha with the job of separating the headland from the mainland. It became trapped in mud at Waitohi Pa (Picton).

Another name was Te Pahoahoa, meaning the ‘back of the headland’, possibly a reference to the fact this was a good lookout to sight the approach of impending attackers.

European History

In the 1840s the New Zealand Company sent Francis Bell to purchase land from the Maori, an arrangement displacing Maori to Waikawa. Various names were tossed around for the new settlement including Horne Bay, Newton Bay, Cromwell and Beaconsfield. Picton was finally introduced in honour of Sir Thomas Picton, who died in the Battle of Waterloo as a general of the Duke of Wellington.

Picton quickly became a thriving port servicing the antimony mines of Endeavour Inlet. Copper, coal and gold from the Pelorus Valley were also exported. Farming produce from the hinterland was shipped from the port and the settlement steadily grew.

The Victoria Domain was originally called ‘Greensill’s Folly’ after a local proponent for the area’s preservation. It was re-named in 1897 by the Council to commemorate the diamond jubilee of that surly queen. The 200 hectare domain was established as a recreation area but during the pioneer days the land was leased for grazing and burned.

When the railway link to Blenheim was completed in 1964 Picton became the main inter-island travel port and the regional capital. It now basks in a quieter atmosphere than Blenheim.

The sleepy town is a hive of activity during the summer when Christchurch bach owners come to enjoy the endlessly sunny summers and get out in their boats. Like Stewart Island cars here play second fiddle to boats. As the gateway to the Sounds and the Queen Charlotte Track, a boat is essential and both Picton and nearby Waikawa have extensive marinas. Boat builders and certifiers line the shores, with marine services commonplace.