Features

History

Dusky Sound was named by Captain James Cook on his first voyage to New Zealand in 1770.  He did not enter the sound because it was getting dark and named it Dusky Bay.  The Māori name for the sound is Tamatea after the legendary explorer who travelled the full length of the North and South Islands in his waka/canoe, the Takitimu.

On Cook’s second voyage in 1773, when he spent several weeks exploring the fiord, he met several Māori family groups. They were Ngāti Mamoe iwi who lived in Dusky Sound and other remote fiords as fugitives of northern tribal battles and formed the basis for romantic and exaggerated legends of a “lost tribe”.

Dusky Sound

The first explorer to try and map an overland route to Dusky Sound was Sir Thomas MacKenzie in 1894 and 1896. The loss of his compass on one of the trips, however, led him to compile a map showing the Seaforth River and another he named MacKenzie River running parallel into Supper Cove. A year later the surveyor E. H. Wilmot was able to prove the two rivers were one and the same.

In 1903, when jobs were scarce, about 50 West Coast miners were set to work building a track from Supper Cove to Lake Manapōuri. Living in tent camps, the men endured the sandflies and rain for a reward of twelve and sixpence a day plus food.

The track, still clearly evident for much of its length, was cut six feet wide with a drain on one side. It extended to a point just past where the Loch Maree hut stands today. Picks, crowbars and a hefty anvil still lie at the side of the track, just above Loch Maree, where the men left them when work came to a halt.

In 1909 ten moose were brought from Canada for liberation at Supper Cove. The harsh environment and competition from red deer have made it unlikely that any moose still survive today although unconfirmed reports of moose sightings have been made over the years.

Natural history

The track crosses exceptionally mountainous country rising to 1600 metres. The U-shaped valleys were carved by deep glaciers during the Ice Ages, the last of which ended some 14,000 years ago.  The glaciers and sheet ice have left behind hanging side valleys, horned peaks and high basins now filled by lakes.

The forest is predominantly silver beech up to 25 metres tall with a lush sub-canopy of pepper tree, broadleaf, fuchsia, coprosmas and soft tree-fern. Ribbonwoods, wineberry, fuchsia and crown fern surround the clearings.  At about 900 metres beech forest gives way to subalpine shrubland with bog pine, hebe, dracophyllum and coprosmas, and short tussock grassland.

A wide variety of forest birds includes yellowheads (mohua) and yellow-crowned parakeets (kākāriki).  Weka and kea usually visit the huts and kiwi can be heard calling at dusk. The Seaforth Valley is good habitat for waterfowl including the native grey duck, introduced mallards and the rare blue duck (whio), found on the fast-flowing headwaters.

Introduced animals include red deer, stoats, rats and mice and Australian possums in the Spey Valley.  Blue cod and groper are often caught by hand line at aptly-named Supper Cove.

Trout fishing is possible in the Hauroko Burn, Spey River and Seaforth River below Loch Maree.  A fishing licence is required. You will also need to comply with the didymo fishing controls for Fiordland.

Didymo controls for Fiordland National Park (PDF, 427K)

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