Editorial policy
How this guide is made
Photo: Krzysztof Golik / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Published
Where facts come from
We use the most official source available for each kind of fact, and name it on the page:
- Walking tracks: Marlborough District Council’s own distances, times and grades; DOC for tracks it manages, including the Queen Charlotte Track.
- Travel: Interislander, Bluebridge, Great Journeys New Zealand (KiwiRail), InterCity, the council (buses, parking), Port Marlborough (the port and cruise ships) and NZTA (roads).
- Attractions and operators: the operator’s or attraction’s own website, then DOC or the council where relevant.
- Accommodation: the regional tourism organisation’s listings, checked against the business’s own site where it has one.
- Food venues (on the sister sites): opening hours come first from the business’s current Google Business Profile, then its own announcements, website and social pages; where sources conflict and nothing is reliable, the hours are left blank.
We never fill a gap from memory or from another guide. A fact we could not confirm is shown as “not confirmed”, and where two sources disagree we say so. Road distances are the one place we use route-planner figures, and we label them that way.
What the dates mean
- “Facts checked” on a place page is the date we last read the sources listed on that page. It is not today’s date filled in automatically.
- “Published” and “Updated” on guides are when the page first went live and when its content last changed in substance.
- “Hours last checked” on the food sites is the date a venue’s opening hours were last compared with a source. Hours can change without notice; for anything that matters, confirm with the business.
- “Checked <date>” next to a timetable pattern, price or season is there because that fact changes. The link beside it goes to the live official page.
Independence
The site is independently run. There is no paid placement, no sponsored content and no affiliate booking links. Listings are in alphabetical order or ordered by a measurable fact such as distance or walking time, never by preference — we don’t publish “best of” rankings or star ratings.
Writing and photos
We write our own descriptions and do not copy text from operators, booking sites or other guides. Photographs are openly licensed images, credited individually; a caption only describes what is visible in the picture.
Corrections
Anyone, including businesses we list, can ask for a correction through the corrections page or corrections@pictonnz.co.nz. We check the change against a source before publishing it. Businesses cannot pay for changes or for a different position.
Closures
When something closes we say so plainly, remove it from lists, and where it helps we point to what is nearby instead. EcoWorld Aquarium on the Picton foreshore, for example, closed in 2021; some older guides and booking sites still list it.
Questions about this policy: contact@pictonnz.co.nz.