Fiordland And Southland – World Travel

Te Anau Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:21:35 +0000

Peaceful, lakeside Te Anau township is a good base for trekkers and visitors travelling to Milford Sound, and an ideal place to recharge your batteries. The tourism industry has ensured there’s always plenty to do here. Alternatively, on a sunny day it’s a beautiful place to just sit around and do very little at all.

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Lake Te Anau defines the boundary of two very different countrysides: to the east are the relatively flat, pastoral areas of central Southland, while immediately west across the lake lie the rugged forested mountains of Fiordland. NZ’s second-largest lake, Te Anau was gouged out by a huge glacier, and has several arms that penetrate into the mountainous forested western shore. Its deep too – it’s deepest point is 417m, or about twice the depth of Loch Ness, so take that, Nessie.

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Milford Track Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:21:35 +0000

The famous Milford Track is a 53.5km walk often described as one of the finest in the world. The number of walkers is limited in the Great Walks season (late October to late April), and during that period you must follow a one-way, four-day set itinerary. Accommodation is only in huts (camping isn’t allowed).

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Even in summer, expect lots of rain, in the wake of which water will cascade everywhere and small streams will become raging torrents within minutes. Remember to bring wet-weather gear and pack belongings in an extra plastic bag or two.

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Milford Sound Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:21:35 +0000

First sight of Milford Sound is stunning: still, dark waters out of which rise sheer rocky cliffs, and forests clinging to the slopes sometimes relinquish their hold, causing a ‘tree avalanche’ into the waters. The spectacular, photogenic 1692m-high Mitre Peak rises dead ahead. It’s a vista to make you go ‘ooo’. And there’s more – a cruise out on the waters of Milford Sound is the most accessible of trips on any of Fiordland’s famous sounds, complete with seals, dolphins and an almost guaranteed downpour of rain (an average of 7m per year!) that creates a spectacular deluge of cascading waterfalls and afterwards adds an appropriately moody mist to the scene.

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One of NZ’s biggest tourist attractions, Milford Sound receives about half a million visitors each year, most of them crammed into the peak months (January and February). Some 14, 000 arrive by foot, via the Milford Track which ends at the sound, many more drive from Te Anau, but most arrive via the multitude of buses that pull into the cruise wharf. At peak times, the cruise terminal resembles a busy international air terminal. Nevertheless, when you get out on the water, all of this humanity seems tiny in the face of nature’s vastness.

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Manapouri Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:21:35 +0000

Strung along the beautiful Lake Manapouri, the town of the same name is largely used as jumping-off point for cruises to the sublime Doubtful Sound and as a base for walking expeditions. There’s very little to the town itself – little more than a handful of hotels, with a glut of sandflies to keep you hopping.

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In 1969, Manapouri was the site of NZ’s first major environmental campaign. The original plan for the West Arm power station, built to provide cheap electricity for the aluminium smelter near Invercargill, included raising the level of the lake by 30m. A petition gathered a staggering 265, 000 signatures (17% of voting-age New Zealanders at the time) and the issue contributed to the downfall of the government at the following election. The action was successful: the power station was built but the lake’s level remains unchanged – a victory for Tanemahuta over Mammon. It was a success that spawned increasing national environmental action through the ’70s and ’80s. West Arm power station is NZ’s largest producer of electricity: a tunnel dug through the mountain from Lake Manapouri to Doubtful Sound drops a hefty 180m from lake to sound, driving the power station’s turbines.

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Invercargill Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:21:35 +0000

Flat and suburban, with endlessly treeless streets, Invercargill certainly isn’t going to blow your senses if you came here via the Catlins or Fiordland. Nevertheless, most travellers in Southland will find themselves in Invercargill at some point – perhaps stocking up on supplies and equipment before setting off to the Catlins or Stewart Island – and it’s worth taking some time to investigate the town’s arty bits and the surprisingly good restaurants.

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Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:21:35 +0000

The bottom end of the South Island has some of the country’s most spectacular landscape. To the west is Fiordland National Park, with jagged misty peaks, glistening lakes and an air of forbidding remoteness. The park can be accessed via the world-famous Milford Track, one of the various trails that meander through dense forests and allow views of spectacular mountains and glacier-sculpted canyons. Fiordland is also home to Milford and Doubtful Sounds, with forested cliffs soaring almost vertically from the still, deep waters, and relatively easy to access by road, boat or kayak.

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In Southland’s east, a sharp left turn off the beaten track, the peaceful Catlins are an area of bird-rich native forest, luxuriantly green farmland and rugged, windswept coasts. In addition to the forest birds the area is home to penguins, seals, sea lions, dolphins and the occasional whale. Wonderful accommodation abounds along wild beaches, in the midst of forests and in tiny waterside settlements.

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Fiordland Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:21:35 +0000

Fiordland is NZ’s rawest wilderness area, a jagged, mountainous, forested zone sliced by numerous deeply recessed sounds (which are technically fiords) reaching inland like crooked fingers from the Tasman Sea. Part of the Te Wahipounamu Southwest New Zealand World Heritage Area, it remains, for the most part, formidable and remote. Te Anau and Milford Sound see the bulk of the region’s tourists, and small towns hold its small permanent population.

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There are a number of wonderful bushwalks in the area: Milford Track may be king, but Kepler and Hollyford are worthy knights, and the Routeburn, Greenstone and Caples Tracks have one end here too, with the other at Queenstown.

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Central Southland Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:21:35 +0000

Although it’s home to the majority of Southland’s permanent population, for travellers the central bit of the province serves mostly as a through station. It’s almost at the Catlins, not far from Fiordland and the gateway to Stewart Island…so there’s plenty of reasons to pass through.

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Bluff Fiordland And Southland New Zealand

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:21:35 +0000

Unimpressive little Bluff (www.bluff.co.nz) is Invercargill’s port, 27km south of the city. Really, the main reasons to come here are to catch the ferry to Stewart Island, pose for photos beside the Stirling Point signpost or buy some of the famous Bluff oysters straight from the wharf.

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While Bluff isn’t the South Island’s southernmost point (that claim to fame belongs to Slope Point in the Catlins), and even though Stewart Island and other dots of rock lie even further south, the phrase ‘from Cape Reinga to Bluff’ is oft-quoted to signify the entire length of NZ, the Kiwi equivalent of ‘Land’s End to John o’ Groats’. NZ’s main highway, SH1, terminates south of Bluff at Stirling Point, so it really does feel like the end of the country.

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