Fiordland National Park
Located in the Fiordland region
Introduction
Fiordland National Park (established in 1952) has spectacular ice-carved fiords, lakes and valleys, rugged granite tops and pristine mountain to sea vistas.Highlights
Find things to do and places to stay Fiordland National Park
With its stunning scenery, Fiordland is a fantastic place to take your boat for scenic touring, fishing or fun.
There are numerous lakes, rivers and coastal locations to enjoy boating in Fiordland. Some of the most popular with boat launching facilities are:
- Milford Sound
- Lake Te Anau
- Lake Manapouri
- Waiau River between lakes Te Anau and Manapouri
- Lake Monowai
- Lake Hauroko (Waitutu/South coast)
Read about staying safe while boating.
Boating rules and bylaws
Keep safe on the water and take notice of all access lane and speed boat rules, especially in high recreation use areas like Lake Manapouri and Lake Te Anau. Conditions can change very rapidly with the onset of bad weather.
Boating rules and safety information – Environment Southland website
Marine reserves
There are 10 marine reserves bordering Fiordland National Park. These reserves have rules in them to protect nature.
Didymo controls for boat users
Clean, check, dry between waterways to help prevent the spread of didymo and other freshwater pests.
There are special conditions in place to protect Fiordland National Park from further spread of the freshwater weed didymo. Boating in controlled areas is restricted – some areas are closed and others require a permit from DOC.
Biosecurity information for boat users – Environment Southland website
More about preventing freshwater pests in Fiordland National Park.
Darran Mountains
The Darran Mountains in Fiordland provide the greatest climbing challenge in the Fiordland area.
The most popular access is via the upper Hollyford Valley just off the Milford Road, south-east of the Homer Tunnel. Accommodation is available at Homer Hut – NZ Alpine Club.
Borland Road rock climbing area
Borland Road has an easily accessible rock climbing area commonly used by outdoor education groups.
Access is off Borland Road, around 5 km from Borland Lodge – Borland Lodge Adventure and Education Trust.
Freestone Hill
Freestone Hill is a rock climbing area near Manapouri – outside Fiordland National Park.
Permission from the landowners is required – Wendy and Cam McDonald.
Call: +64 3 249 6614
Helpful resources
- Fiordland climbing route database – NZ Alpine Club
- Climbing care code
Fiordland’s 10 marine reserves offer excellent scuba diving and snorkelling opportunities all round. You can see the famous black coral and other spectacular underwater life and scenery.
More about the 10 marine reserves.
You can dive or snorkel independently or with one of the tourism or charter boat services available. All marine life is protected in the marine reserves.
As the fiords are fragile environments, follow the diving care code for Fiordland.
The lakes and rivers of Fiordland offer excellent fishing for brown and rainbow trout.
Listed here are some of the popular areas to go fishing in Fiordland. You need permission to cross private land when crossing private land to access rivers.
Milford area
- Milford Road – Eglinton River, Cleddau River
- Milford Track – rivers and lakes, but note strict conditions for didymo controls in this area.
Hollyford area
- Hollyford Valley – Hollyford River
Te Anau area
- Lake Te Anau
- Waiau River – access via Rainbow Reach, Balloon Loop, Queens Reach
- Ettrick Burn – in the Murchison Mountains – fishing by ballot.
Manapouri area
- Lake Manapouri
- Lake Rakatu – access from the Manapouri Track
- Iris Burn – access from Kepler Track
- Lake Monowai/ Borland Road
- Lake Hauroko – Waitutu
Fishing competition
Every year on Labour Weekend the Te Anau fishing competition is held.
Fishing licences and regulations
Wherever you choose to go fishing, you need to have a fishing licence which you can get from:
Make sure you know the current fishing season dates, regulations and catch limits.
Fiordland offers fantastic areas for kayaking, including Doubtful Sound, Milford Sound and numerous lakes and rivers.
Read about staying safe while kayaking or canoeing.
Lake Te Anau – lakeshore
Lake Te Anau is a great option for day kayaking or activities with the family. Link up with walks on the Kepler Track, such as Brod Bay.
Access is from the beach and lakefront.
Lake Te Anau – North Fiord (16 km)
This section of the lake can be very rough. There is good camping at the entrance to the fiord and at The Narrows further down, or stay at the Glaisnock Hut at the end of the fiord.
Access to the lake is from Te Anau Downs – 30 km north of Te Anau.
Lake Te Anau – Middle Fiord (20 km)
This section of the lake can be very rough, but also offers sheltered bays and islands, and the Junction Burn Hut in South West Arm.
More experienced parties may enjoy the adventure of going to George Sound via a 45 min kayak portage from North West Arm to Lake Hankinson (difficult terrain), then a walk on the George Sound Route.
No access or camping allowed in the Murchison Mountains including the southern side of Middle Fiord. This is because it's a special takahē area.
The best access to the lake is from Te Anau Downs – 30 km north of Te Anau.
Lake Te Anau – South Arm (22 km)
There are walking tracks to the Hidden Lakes and lookout point, a jetty at Mussel Cove.
No access or camping allowed in the Murchison Mountains including the southern side of Middle Fiord. This is because it's a special takahē area.
Lake Manapouri
Scenic, wild beauty with sheltered islands, beautiful beaches and good walking options accessible from shore.
Access to the water is at Pearl Harbour, Manapouri.
Places for sea kayaking
While challenging to access the sea around Fiordland, sea kayaking here is highly rewarding for the more skilled and adventurous. The most accessible areas are listed here, or you can go further afield by air or large boat transport.
Milford Sound (18 km)
Milford Sound is a very steep-sided fiord with striking beauty, but busy with boat traffic. The southern side is more sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds, in particular the afternoon day breeze during summer.
For camping there are two spots – Harrison Cove and Anita Bay. Access is by boat ramp off Deepwater Basin Road in Milford Sound.
Doubtful Sound (38 km)
Quiet, wild, isolated beauty. The southern side is more sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds. Numerous camp spots including Hall Arm.
Huts include Deas Cove Hut (Thompson Sound) and The Gut Hut (Doubtful Sound).
Access this fiord by crossing Lake Manapouri, travelling over Wilmot Pass to Deep Cove.
Places for river kayaking
- Upper Waiau River – between lakes Te Anau and Manapouri
- Hollyford River – access off Hollyford Road
Guided trips
Guided kayaking and kayak hire options – Destination Fiordland website
Safety and planning tips for kayaking
Safety is your responsibility. Make sure you have the skills and the correct equipment to safely do your chosen activity.
- Fiordland weather can change at any time so be prepared for anything.
- Be aware that the lakes and fiords are exposed, the wind usually strengthens in the afternoon and conditions can change at any time.
- Fiordland rivers can rise and fall rapidly following rain or snow melt. Due to the huge catchments draining into the rivers, it doesn’t have to be raining where you plan to kayak to be at risk from flooding.
- We recommend you carry a mountain radio for updated weather information and personal locator beacon for safety, especially on multi day trips. These can be hired in Te Anau.
- Help keep invasive weeds such as oxygen weed (Lagarosiphon) and didymo out of the lakes and rivers.
- Sandflies are prominent in all areas so we advise taking insect repellent.
Prevent the spread of freshwater pests
Help prevent the spread of didymo and other freshwater pests that threaten our waterways.
How to prevent the spread of freshwater pests such as didymo.
These are many places to go in Fiordland National Park:
- Lake Manapouri area – stunning scenery and numerous activities.
- Lake Te Anau area – the closest town with facilities, with walking, hunting, mountain biking, and water activities.
- Doubtful Sound/Patea area – majestic fiord.
- Hollyford Valley area – remote, forested valley from the mountains to the sea, with tramping, hunting, fishing, climbing and more.
- Lake Monowai/Borland Road area ‘off the beaten track’ tramping, hunting, boating and fishing.
- Milford Road/Milford Sound area, with one of New Zealand's most scenic drives.
- Southern Fiords – fascinating historic sites, walking or kayaking.
- Tuatapere area – wild, dramatic mountain and coastal landscapes in the Waitutu/South Coast area.
Visit Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre for information and tips.
Find out how to get to Fiordland National Park by road, air or boat.
Find information on how to get to Fiordland National Park, what the weather is like, and tips for safety, including what gear you will need.
Weather forecast
All drone use must be authorised by DOC
A concession is required to fly a drone on any public conservation land.
Glaciers scoured the Fiordland landscape for tens of thousands of years, carving the fiords, lakes and deep U-shaped valleys so typical of the area.
Geology
Fiordland contains some of the oldest rocks in New Zealand, predominantly hard crystalline metamorphic rocks like gneiss and schist, and volcanic rocks like granite. Lying close to the alpine fault where two plates of the Earth’s crust meet, the area has been folded, faulted, uplifted and submerged many times.
Periods of submersion under the sea-bed have created areas of sandstone, mudstone, and limestone seen today at Te Ana-au Caves and on the Hump Ridge.
Shaped by glaciers
Over the last 2 million years glaciers have at times covered the area, gouging into the rock and creating U-shaped valleys, many of which are now lakes or fiords.
Today hundreds of lakes dot the landscape, among them Lake Hauroko, the deepest in New Zealand at 462 metres. Fourteen fiords, some stretching up to 40 kilometres inland, extend from Milford Sound/Piopiotahi in the north to Preservation Inlet in the south.
Fiordland National Park was officially constituted in 1952. Today it covers over 1.2 million hectares and was declared a World Heritage Area in 1986.
Ata Whenua
Fiordland was well known to the Māori, and many legends recount its formation and naming. Demigod Tuterakiwhanoa is said to have carved the rugged landscape from formless rock. Few Māori were permanent residents of the region but seasonal food-gathering camps were linked by well worn trails. Takiwai, a translucent greenstone, was sought from Anita Bay and elsewhere near the mouth of Milford Sound/Piopiotahi.
First Europeans
Captain Cook and his crew were the first Europeans to visit Fiordland, and in 1773 spent five weeks in Tamatea/Dusky Sound. Cook’s maps and descriptions soon attracted sealers and whalers who formed the first European settlements of New Zealand. From the middle of the 19th-century surveyors, explorers and prospectors began to penetrate the unexplored interior of Fiordland.
Preservation Inlet boomed briefly in the 1890s after gold was found, but efforts to establish mines, timber mills and farms in Fiordland have generally been short-lived.
Early settlers
Quintin McKinnon and Donald Sutherland opened up the Milford Track in 1889 and began guiding tourists through the now world-famous route. Richard Henry, one of the pioneers of threatened species work transferred kākāpō and kiwi to islands in Tamatea/Dusky Sound in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
Heritage sites
There are several heritages sites in Fiordland National Park:
- Astronomer's Point – where the postion of New Zealand was fixed in 1773.
- Caswell Sound Hut – the only physical feature remaining from the New Zealand–American Fiordland expedition of 1949.
- Clark Hut – built in 1941 and used for deer cullers by the New Zealand government.
- Freeman Burn Hut – build in the 1930s for people walking the Bradshaw Sound – Lake Manapouri Track.
- Omanui/McKinnon Pass Memorial – memorial on the route, now famous as the Milford Track, discovered by Quintin McKinnon and Ernest Mitchell in 1888.
- Port Craig Sawmill and settlement site – New Zealand's most complete sawmilling complex featuring all stages and aspects of the timber industry.
- Preservation Inlet – home to over 2,500 gold miners and saw millers in the 1890s, and location of one of New Zealand's most remote lighthouse settlements.
- Richard Henry’s house site – Richard Henry was caretaker of New Zealand’s first island wildlife sanctuary in the 19th century.
- Tarawera Silver Mine and Smelter – one of many failed ore extraction ventures, and the only smelter site on public conservation land in Southland.
Check, Clean, Dry
Clean all gear when moving between waterways to prevent the spread of didymo and other freshwater pests.
Contacts
| Te Rua-o-te-moko / Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre | |
| Phone: | +64 3 249 7924 |
| Fax: | +64 4 471 1117 |
| Email: | fiordlandvc@doc.govt.nz |
| Address: |
Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre Lakefront Drive Te Anau 9600 |
| Postal Address: |
PO Box 29 Te Anau 9640 |
| Full office details | |