Mail Bags and Captain Cookers

The drowned valleys at the top of the South Island – the Marlborough Sounds - offer an idyllic but isolated lifestyle. Folk living in the bays and inlets along this convoluted coastline require services which are only available by sea.

Spectrum’s Jack Perkins heads out from Picton on the boat, skippered by Joe Healey, which carries mail, provisions, correspondence school assignments and even livestock for families in Queen Charlotte Sound.

All photos by Suzanne Foster.

From Spectum 10 June 2012

Mail Boat - Skipper Joe Healey.

Gerry Marriot and Bonnie from remote Cape Jackson.

Handing over the mail, East Bay, Arapawa Island.

Mail bags.

A wild Captain Cooker pig and her family from the bush down to the jetty where Joe feeds them stale bread from a Picton supermarket.

Mail boat - Punaruawhiti Bay.

Directions.

Jack Perkins delivers mail to Noeline's homestay, Punaruawhiti Bay.

Jack and Noeline.

Ship Cove.

Ship Cove plaque.

Skipper Joe Healey (centre) and tourists.

The images in this gallery are used with permission and are subject to copyright conditions.