Fiordland Region

The largest National Park in New Zealand, Fiordland is a World Heritage site covering 1.2 million ha along the remote south-western coastline of the South Island. The park contains 14 fiords, from Milford Sound in the north to Preservation Inlet in the south, some stretching as far as 40 km inland as they trace the paths of the ancient glaciers that created them. These glaciers carved out New Zealand's deepest lakes and created the rock faces over which some of the highest waterfalls in the country plunge. In 1773, Captain James Cook sailed the Endeavour into Dusky Sound, recording large numbers of seals. By the early 1800s a major sealing enterprise was flourishing in the region followed by a gold rush in the 1890s which brought miners to Preservation Inlet. Two townships flourished and then died in this remote wilderness area, the sites eventually being reclaimed by the forest. A number of surveyors, prospectors and explorers had made their way inland during the early 1900s, among them Sir Thomas McKenzie who was later to become Premier of New Zealand. As early as 1894 McKenzie advocated that Fiordland should become a public park, and within the next decade most of the land had been reserved, although the park was not created until 1952. East of the Fiordland wilderness, Southland's rich forests covering the river lowlands, became a site for numerous timber mills. Once the land had been cleared the region's first farmers, hardy Scots , trekked south from Otago to establish Southlands productive farming industry. The settlement that was to become Invercargill was founded in 1856 and its streets were named after Scottish rivers.

 

Kepler-Track

1MT LUXMORE

From the Te Anau township, take the Manapouri Te Anau Highway and head southwest 2.3 km then turn right onto Golf Course Road and drive 2.1 km to the access to the control gates and the Kepler Track.
You can follow the Kepler Track along the shoreline at the southern end of Lake Te Anau for about 30 minutes through the forest to Dock Bay. Lower down along the shoreline the forest is made up of mountain and red beech with kamahi in the sub-canopy along with the occasional rimu. If you want to spend a day and make a climb up into the alpine areas, you can continue to the sandy beach at Brod Bay, then follow the track up onto Mt Luxmore for spectacular views across the Lake Te Anau. It takes about 3 hours to make the climb through a forest of mixed beech and podocarps onto the high grasslands of Mt Luxmore where you will find colourful turpentine scrub, mountain cottonwood and hebes scattered amongst the tussock. From the Mt Luxmore Hut its a short walk to the Luxmore Caves where you can crawl down into limestone chambers complete with impressive formations of stalagmites.

2RAINBOW REACH

Return to the Manapouri Te Anau Highway and continue south 8.9 km then turn right onto Rainbow Reach Road. It is 1.6 km to the carpark near the swingbridge across the river.
The walk to the Rainbow Reach is part of the Kepler Track and can be reached by crossing a swing bridge over the Waiau River. Following the track to the left leads towards Shallow Bay, but you can take a shorter walk through beautiful stands of tall red and mountain beech trees on the banks of the Waiau River to the Rainbow Reach. If you have time you can continue towards the Balloon Loop, an old part of the Upper Waiau River and cross the swamps on a boardwalk that features a viewing platform out in the middle of this interesting wetland area.

Lake Manapouri

 

3LAKE MANAPOURI

Return to the Manapouri Te Anau Highway and continue south 9.3 km to Manapouri.

Originally called the 'lake of a hundred islands', by the Maori, Lake Manapouri covers over 43 sq km and is the second-deepest lake in New Zealand. One of the more easily accessible of the southern lakes, you can walk down to the water's edge from the roadside.

 

 

 

Underground-Powerstation

MANAPOURI POWER STATION

In 1955 the largest deposit of bauxite in the world was discovered on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. Lake Manapouri in New Zealand was identified as a source of hydroelectric power that could be used to power an aluminium smelter at a site on Tiwai Point, 160 km south-east at Bluff near Invercargill. With the main part of the power station, including the machine hall and tailrace tunnels, located deep within a mountain, the tunneling and construction of the station became a massive feat of engineering. The machine halls housing the power turbines were excavated from solid granite rock 200 m below the surface of Lake Manapouri. Two tailrace tunnels feeding the water from Lake Manapouri, through the power station, were cut 10 km through the rock to emerge at Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound. This is the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand, producing 610 mw of power. Most of the stations output is used by the aluminium smelting plant at Bluff to convert bauxite that has already been refined into alumina in Queensland, into metal before being then shipped away to markets around the world. The original proposals for the power station involved raising the level of Lake Manapouri and spurred the Save Manapouri Campaign, which included protests and a massive petition to the government. The project was also controversial in Australia where the status of an Aboriginal reserve was revoked after it was discovered that the red cliffs on their land were actually enormous deposits of bauxite - the ore from which aluminium and tungsten is made. Mining commenced in 1960 with attempts made to relocate the whole community.

 

Clifden Suspension Bridge

4CLIFDEN SUSPENSION BRIDGE

Continue east on the Hillside Manapouri Road 4.8 km, turn right onto Weir Road and drive 8.3 km then turn right onto Blackmount Redcliff Road and drive 24.2 km. Continue on the Clifden Blackmount Road 27.6 km and turn right onto Bates Road. It is 0.4 km to the old suspension bridge.
The creatively engineered Clifden suspension bridge on the Wairaki River dates back to 1899. Near the beginning of the bridge are the remains of an even earlier settlement. Although no longer open to vehicles you can still walk across this old bridge built using totara and Australian hardwood decking and suspended from 27 steel cables attached to concrete towers made to look like stone.

 

 

6TUATAPERE

Return to the Clifden Highway and continue southwest 12.5 km, turn left onto Half Mile Road and drive east 1.3 km into Tuatapere.
Known as the 'Hole in the Bush', Tuatapere can trace its development back to the early days of the 1880s when it was a sawmilling centre for the bushmen cutting their way through the beautiful lowland forests that once covered Te Tua, Te Waewae, Waihoaka and Orepuki. Seven mills continued to work the timber from both the Longwood Range in the east and the Rowallan Forest to the west from the 1920s through into the 1930s. Today the town hosts a national wood-chopping carnival each year on New Year's Day and is also the self-proclaimed 'Sausage Capital' of New Zealand. The Tuatapere Domain is an attractive forest reserve located in the heart of the town that serves as a reminder of the forest that once cloaked the countryside.

 

Wind shorn foliage at TeWaewae Bay

7OREPUKI

From Tuatapere continue south on SH99 and the Tuatapere Orepuki Highway 19.6 km to Orepuki. From the road above the cliffs overlooking Te Waewae Bay, you can occasionally see Hector's dolphins and southern wright whales while along the roadside, stands of macrocarpa have been dramatically clipped by the strong southerly winds that buffet the shoreline.
Although gold was found at Orepuki Beach in the 1860s, the very fine gold dust was too difficult to extract. Coalmining was also tried then abandoned and although a huge shale works was built in the 1890s, it became another operation that also failed along with later plans to extract iron and platinum from the sand. Monkey Island Beach, signposted to the right off the main road, provides a safe place to swim and a chance to perhaps catch a glimpse of a little gold dust.

8RIVERTON

Continue south-east 16 km on the Orepuki Riverton Highway and SH99 27.4 km to Riverton. If you turn right onto Bay Road you can drive out along the harbour and take a look at the fishing boats tied up along the waterfont.
Southland's oldest community, Riverton was established by whalers in the 1830s. Many of the original cottages built in the 1860s have survived in good condition and out along the harbour, located on the mouths of the Aparima and Pourikino Rivers, you will find a fascinating collection of fishing boats in what is now a busy port. In the Riverton Early Settlers Museum on Palmerston Street you will find a sledge used by Sir Edmund Hillary in Antarctica, an impressive exhibition of local watercolours and portraits of the Howells, Riverton's founding family.

 

Queens-Park

9INVERCARGILL

Continue east on SH99 and the Riverton Wallacetown Highway 31 km then turn right onto North Road and SH6. Drive south 5 km and continue south 2.6 km on Dee Street to the clock tower and the center of Invercargill.
Invercargill, the second southernmost city in the world, is spread across wide-open plains near the southern coast of the South Island. The early pioneers came here to establish a flax industry, but it was the rich Southland grasslands that were to establish the city and fund the substantial civic legacies that have survived to the present time. Among the city's most impressive buildings is the huge brick water tower, on Leet Street, built in the 1880s. The Southland Museum and Art Gallery is at Queens Park, an 81 ha public reserve which can be reached off Gala Street. Founded more than a hundred years ago, the museum was roofed over with a massive pyramid in 1990 and features displays on early colonial settlers, Maori stone tool-making and jade carving. In a state of the art tuatarium, more than 40 of these spiny-backed reptiles, that have survived since the dinosaur age, are part of a successful captive breeding programme. When the tuatara hatchlings are old enough, they are released on predator-free offshore islands.