Fiordland National Park

About

Fiordland National Park is a national park in the south-west corner of South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand, with an area covering 12,607 km2 (4,868 sq mi), and a major part of the Te Wāhipounamu a UNESCO World Heritage Site established in 1990. The park is administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC). The southern ranges of the Southern Alps cover most of Fiordland National Park, combined with the deep glacier-carved valleys. The park is a significant refuge for many threatened native animals, ranging from dolphins and bats to reptiles, insects, and endangered species of birds endemic to New Zealand, such as the takahē, mōhua, kākāpō, and southern brown kiwi.

One of the earliest settlers on the South Island was the Waitaha people, who are believed to have settled directly on the South Island from Hawaiki on the Uruao canoe. Later migrations of Kāti Māmoe from the North Island. Similarly, Ngāi Tahu later migrated from the North Island and joined the Kāti Māmoe iwi. The Māori history of Fiordland can be traced back more than 1000 years with the creation of Ngāi Tahu. Its fiords, which are waterways, were intended to provide havens along its rugged coastline, which was rich in forests and birds to sustain travellers. Fiordland offered many other resources to maintain groups on their expeditions, such as kākāpō and shellfish.

In Māori mythology, the fiords are created by the craft of Tū Te Rakiwhanoa, who carved indentations into the coastline to make it habitable. But habitation in Fiordland has always been thin. Although Māori made seasonal visits here to fish, hunt, and collect greenstone from Milford Sound. Tribal groups found sanctuary here, living amid the penguins and seals. In Māori mythology, a legend named Hine-nui-te-pō created sandflies to keep people from becoming idle in Fiordland to protect people from its "beauty".

Captain James Cook, a British explorer, circumnavigated the South Island with his crew of HMS Endeavour in March 1770. They advanced towards the southwest Fiordland but sailed away since it was late. Although they did not enter Dusky Sound on their first voyage to New Zealand, Cook noted the presence of a promising harbour here, and gave it the name "Dusky Bay". They managed to shelter at Dusky Sound during their second voyage aboard HMS Resolution, and Cook met some Māori families while they were sheltered here. Andreas Reischek, an Austrian naturalist explored Fiordland in the late 1880s. His collection of bird skins from the area was destroyed after being waterlogged as a result of inadequate stowage aboard the Stella. Despite his contributions to the study of New Zealand natural history, Reischek is remembered for his theft of taonga from Māori hosts.

10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) of Fiordland were set aside as a national reserve in 1904, following suggestions by then-future Prime Minister Thomas Mackenzie and Southland Commissioner of Crown Lands, John Hay, that the region should be declared a national park.

The area had already become a destination for trampers, following the opening up of the Milford Track from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound in 1889 by New Zealand explorers Quintin McKinnon and Donald Sutherland, which received significant publicity from a 1908 article in the London Spectator describing it as the "Finest Walk in the World".

The Fiordland "public reserve" was created as a park administered by the Department of Lands and Survey, in practical terms, similar to a National Park. The only two officially named "national parks" in New Zealand at the time, Tongariro National Park and Egmont National Park, were administered by park boards. Consolidation of park management led to the National Parks Act of 1952, which brought Fiordland National Park into the fold, formally making it the third National Park in New Zealand. Fiordland National Park's establishment in the early 1950s occurred the same time with the opening of the Homer Tunnel for public use, which provided road access to Milford Sound.

One of the earliest settlers on the South Island was the Waitaha people, who are believed to have settled directly on the South Island from Hawaiki on the Uruao canoe. Later migrations of Kāti Māmoe from the North Island. Similarly, Ngāi Tahu later migrated from the North Island and joined the Kāti Māmoe iwi. The Māori history of Fiordland can be traced back more than 1000 years with the creation of Ngāi Tahu. Its fiords, which are waterways, were intended to provide havens along its rugged coastline, which was rich in forests and birds to sustain travellers. Fiordland offered many other resources to maintain groups on their expeditions, such as kākāpō and shellfish.

In Māori mythology, the fiords are created by the craft of Tū Te Rakiwhanoa, who carved indentations into the coastline to make it habitable. But habitation in Fiordland has always been thin. Although Māori made seasonal visits here to fish, hunt, and collect greenstone from Milford Sound. Tribal groups found sanctuary here, living amid the penguins and seals. In Māori mythology, a legend named Hine-nui-te-pō created sandflies to keep people from becoming idle in Fiordland to protect people from its "beauty".

Captain James Cook, a British explorer, circumnavigated the South Island with his crew of HMS Endeavour in March 1770. They advanced towards the southwest Fiordland but sailed away since it was late. Although they did not enter Dusky Sound on their first voyage to New Zealand, Cook noted the presence of a promising harbour here, and gave it the name "Dusky Bay". They managed to shelter at Dusky Sound during their second voyage aboard HMS Resolution, and Cook met some Māori families while they were sheltered here. Andreas Reischek, an Austrian naturalist explored Fiordland in the late 1880s. His collection of bird skins from the area was destroyed after being waterlogged as a result of inadequate stowage aboard the Stella. Despite his contributions to the study of New Zealand natural history, Reischek is remembered for his theft of taonga from Māori hosts.

10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) of Fiordland were set aside as a national reserve in 1904, following suggestions by then-future Prime Minister Thomas Mackenzie and Southland Commissioner of Crown Lands, John Hay, that the region should be declared a national park.

The area had already become a destination for trampers, following the opening up of the Milford Track from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound in 1889 by New Zealand explorers Quintin McKinnon and Donald Sutherland, which received significant publicity from a 1908 article in the London Spectator describing it as the "Finest Walk in the World".

The Fiordland "public reserve" was created as a park administered by the Department of Lands and Survey, in practical terms, similar to a National Park. The only two officially named "national parks" in New Zealand at the time, Tongariro National Park and Egmont National Park, were administered by park boards. Consolidation of park management led to the National Parks Act of 1952, which brought Fiordland National Park into the fold, formally making it the third National Park in New Zealand. Fiordland National Park's establishment in the early 1950s occurred the same time with the opening of the Homer Tunnel for public use, which provided road access to Milford Sound.

During the cooler past, glaciers carved many deep fiords, the most famous (and most visited) of which is Milford Sound / Piopiotahi. Other notable fiords include Doubtful Sound / Patea and Tamatea / Dusky Sound. The retreat of the glaciers after the ice age left behind U-shaped valleys with sheer cliffs, and as a result, Fiordland's coast is steep and crenellated, with some of the 15 fiords reaching as far as 40 kilometres (25 mi) inland.

The southern ranges of the Southern Alps cover most of Fiordland National Park and, combined with the deep glacier-carved valleys, present a highly inaccessible landscape. At the northern end of the park, the Darran Mountains contain several peaks rising to over 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), with views of Mount Aspiring / Tititea to the north in the neighbouring Mount Aspiring National Park. Further south, the Franklin Mountains, Stuart Mountains, and Murchison Mountains reach around 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), with the peaks diminishing in height from north to south. The Kepler, Dingwall, Kaherekoau, Princess, and Cameron Mountains further south only reach 1,500–1,700 metres (4,900–5,600 ft).

The glacial carving has cut off islands from the mainland, leaving two large uninhabited offshore islands, Secretary Island and Resolution Island, as well as many smaller ones. Although these glaciers are long-gone, a few small glaciers and permanent snow fields remain, with the southernmost glacier situated below Caroline Peak.

Several large lakes lie wholly or partly within the park's boundaries, notably Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri, both on the western boundary of the national park, as well as the southern lakes Lake Monowai, Lake Hauroko, and Lake Poteriteri. All of these lakes exhibit the topography typical of glacier-carved valleys, with Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri in particular having several arms that are similar in appearance to the fiords on the west coast of the park.

The Sutherland Falls, to the southwest of the Sound on the Milford Track, are among the world's highest waterfalls. Other tall waterfalls in the park include Browne Falls, Humboldt Falls, Lady Alice Falls, and Bowen Falls, as well as countless temporary waterfalls in the fiords that come to life after rainfall.

Prevailing westerly winds blow moist air from the Tasman Sea onto the mountains; the cooling of this air as it rises produces a prodigious amount of rainfall, exceeding seven metres in many parts of the park. This supports the lush temperate rainforests of the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion.

Prevailing westerly winds blow moist air from the Tasman Sea onto the mountains; the cooling of this air as it rises produces a prodigious amount of rainfall, exceeding seven metres in many parts of the park. This supports the lush temperate rainforests of the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion.