ABOUT FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK

Fiordland National Park, in the remote southwest corner of the South Island, covers 1.25 million ha (3,088,812 acres) and is the largest of New Zealand's 14 national parks. Even when this wettest part of the country is under heavy rain (over 7,500mm/ 300 inches are recorded each year), Fiordland has a moody magnificence, with its high mountains, forested hills and deep inlets. Although the vast majority of the park remains inaccessible, there are more than 5,000km (3,107 miles) of walking tracks. The most accessible of the park's 14 fiords and one of the country's biggest visitor attractions is Milford Sound.

Doubtful Sound

Excursions by boat then bus from Pearl Harbour, Manapouri Fiordland's mountain topography is generally lower the farther south you go, and its fiords become longer and more indented with coves, arms and islands. Captain Cook named this Doubtful Harbour in 1770, and did not explore beyond the entrance. It was not until 23 years later that Italian explorer Don Alessandro Malaspina, leading a Spanish expedition, sent a small crew into the fiord to make proper observations.

Doubtful Sound, though not as steep as Milford Sound, offers a sense of space and wilderness, and is the deepest of the fiords at 421 m (1,381ft). It has three distinct arms and several superb waterfalls, including the 619m (2,031 ft) Browne Falls. At the entrance to Hall Arm is an impressive 900m (2,953ft) cliff. Tours take in the dripping beech forests and a hydroelectric plant, and the sound has its own pod of about 60 bottlenose dolphins.

Milford Sound
The approach to majestic Milford Sound is an exciting experience, with the mountains closing in on either side of Milford Road as you enter the Homer Tunnel, an amazing 1,200m (3,937ft) feat of engineering. You emerge in the spectacular Cleddau Canyon, where in heavy rain the water gushes from the steep outcrops in all direc­tions, and where the Cleddau River has, over the millennia, sculpted round shapes and basins in the rock. Presently Mitre Peak, at 1,683m (5,551ft), and Mount Tutoko, Fiordland's highest peak at 2,723m (9,009ft), are in view. Facing Mitre Peak is The Lion (1,302m/ 4,272ft), and behind it is Mount Pembroke (2,045m/6,709ft).

The fiord itself is 15knn (9 miles) long and about 290m (951 ft) at its deepes~ and its mouth is only about 120m (394ft) wide. Cruises along the sound take about two hours. In heavy rains the whole sound can seem like one great waterfall, but by far the most impres­sive at any time are the powerful 160m (525ft) Lady Bowen Falls, a 10 minute walk from the cruiseboat terminal.

The Milford Deep Underwater Observatory (visits as part of cruise packages or by arrangement) opened in 1995 in the sheltered waters of Harrison Cove, about a third of the way out of the sound on its eastern edge. From its interpretative centre you descend 8m (26ft) into a circular viewing chamber, where you can see at close quarters the very rare black coral (which is actually white) a species that can live for more than 300 years.

www.fiordland.org.nz