Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and John Mackay struggled up the Arthur Valley from Milford Sound in search of precious
minerals. The fine waterfall they found was named after Mackay after he won a coin toss for
the honour. After several more days of bush-bashing they sighted a magnificent three-leap
waterfall, which was equitably named after Sutherland.
After stumbling on to Mackinnon Pass and viewing the Clinton River, the pair returned
by Milford Sound, where word soon got out about the mighty Sutherland Falls. Erroneously
proclaimed the highest in the world, the falls soon had adventurers lined up to see them. The
pressure was on to build a track to the Milford area, and in 1888 Quintin Mackinnon and
Ernest Mitchell were commissioned by the government to cut a route along the Clinton
River.
At the same time, a survey party from Otago was moving up through the Arthur Valley.
Hearing of this development, Mackinnon and Mitchell stopped track-cutting, scrambled
over the pass and made their way past the present site of Quintin Hut to meet Adams. A
rough trail was thus established, a few flimsy huts thrown up, and by the end of the year
tourists were already using the route, with Mackinnon as guide. Seeking to exploit this op-
portunity, the Government Tourist Department began to take over all of the track's facilities
in 1901, and it has been the Milford Track that has been the pin-up of the area's tourism
campaign ever since.
Fiordland National Park was officially gazetted in 1952, preserving 10,000 sq km of land
and protecting the route to Milford Sound. Fiordland National Park was rounded out to its
present size - more than 12,000 sq km - in 1999 when the 22-sq-km Waitutu Forest was ad-
ded.
Environment
The most important contributors to Fiordland's majestic mountain scenery are the glacial
periods of the last ice age. The glaciers shaped the hard granite peaks, gouged the fiords and
lakes, and scooped out rounded valleys. Evidence of the ice floes can be found almost
everywhere, from the moraine terraces behind Te Anau and in Eglinton's U-shaped valley to
the pointed peaks of Milford Sound.
One result of the glaciers is Fiordland's trademark lakes, such as Te Anau. It is the largest
lake on the South Island and the second largest in the country, 66km long with 500km of
shoreline and a surface area of 342 sq km. Another major lake is Lake Hauroko, the deepest
lake in NZ, plunging 463m.
