Fiordland National Park is the geographic region in the south-western corner of the south island of New Zealand. The majority of the national park is dominated by the steep sided snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes and glacier carved sea flooded western valleys (fiords).

Fiordland National Park is part of the World Heritage Site of Te Wahipounamu. The other parts that make up Te Wahipounamu are Mt. Aspiring National Park, Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park and Westland National Park.

The most famous and most visited part of Fiordland National Park is Milford Sound which may be because the only road in the park goes to Milford Sound. I have only included one photo (below) of Milford Sound in this post because I have dedicated and entire post to Milford Sound that I provide a link to at the bottom of this post.

Fiordland National Park is raw nature because of its remote location and restricted access. Other than Milford Sound there really is very little of the park that can be seen other than from the air or by boat.

This limited access makes seeing the National Park reduced to two main options. Large ocean-going ships can pass by the park avs they sail in the Tasman Sea along the west coast of New Zealand or boats can enter the passageways in the calmer waters of the many fiords.

I have include two sets of photos in this post. The first set were taken from a ship in the Tasman Sea and are mainly taken in the northern portion of the National Park. Two things are notable in these photo. First is that the mountains are very similar to the Milford Sound area. They are large rugged snow-capped mountains. Secondly, the water is choppy and rough which contrasts with being in the protected area of the fiords.

The second set of photos were taken when our ship left the Tasman Sea and entered the passageway through the fiord. This set of photos are noticeably different because the mountains are smaller, the mountain tops are less rugged and not snow-capped and the water is calm from the protection of the fiords.

The Dust on My Shoes

When we visit nature, leave no trace!

The dust on my shoes is intended to give a better prospective on my experience of walking in the site that I am featuring but in this case I only experience the site from the water and ironically I didn’t actually collect any dust on my shoes.

Fiordland National Park is one of the world’s most beautiful places in nature. It is one of those places that makes me want to explore and see more of it but part of what makes it so spectacular is because it has limited access for humans and that has allowed the park to remain pure unspoiled nature.

I am grateful that I was able to see one of the few places on earth that is relatively untouched by human footprints.

The beauty of nature is something everyone should have the opportunity of experience and enjoy but I believe that when we finish our visit that we should leave the site undisturbed so that the next visitor will have the same experience as we did.

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