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Lonely Planet s Natural World, published October 2020. Few places match the natural majesty of New Zealand’s South Island with, from top to bottom, beaches, whales, glaciers and waterfalls. New Zealand’s highest mountains are here: Aoraki/Mt Cook in the middle of the island, Mt Aspiring, and Mitre Peak, the triangular talisman marking the mouth of Milford Sound. Keep going, past the adventure towns of Wānaka and Queenstown and you’ll reach Fiordland. This craggy corner of New Zealand is a vast national park and Unesco World Heritage area, covering 4633 square miles (120,000 sq km).
“It’s a good effort.’’ He hoped the airstrip would also be fixed and thought it would not take too much work. In early February, about 1100mm of rain dumped down onto Fiordland, and State Highway 94 leading into Milford became impassable. That led to part of New Zealand’s largest aerial evacuation of people, with 500 people from Fiordland airlifted from the area to safety. The road repair work was carried out by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Milford Alliance team. They will resume work on restoring the final 3km of road, from Girder Creek to the head of the Hollyford Track, in mid-January, with completion expected by late April.