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Piopiotahi
Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a Fjord, fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Fiordland's marine reserves, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey (the ''2008 Travelers' Choice Destinations Awards'' by TripAdvisor) and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination."Real Journeys rapt with Kiwi Must-Do's"
''Scoop'', 13 February 2007.
Rudyard Kipling had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World. The fiord is most commonly accessed via road (State Highway 94 (New Zealand), State Highway 94) by tour coach, with the road terminating at a small village also called Milford Sound (village), Milford Sound.


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Fiordland's Marine Reserves
Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes, and its steep, glacier-carved and now ocean-flooded western valleys. The name "Fiordland" comes from a variant spelling of the Scandinavian word for this type of steep valley, "fjord". The area of Fiordland is dominated by, and very roughly coterminous with, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand's largest National Park. Due to the often steep terrain and high amount of rainfall supporting dense vegetation, the interior of the Fiordland region is largely inaccessible. As a result, Fiordland was never subjected to notable logging operations, and even attempts at whaling, seal hunting, and mining were on a small scale and short-lived, partly also because of the challenging weather. Today, Fiordland contains by far the greatest extent of ...
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Fiordland
Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes, and its steep, glacier-carved and now ocean-flooded western valleys. The name "Fiordland" comes from a variant spelling of the Scandinavian word for this type of steep valley, "fjord". The area of Fiordland is dominated by, and very roughly coterminous with, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand's largest National Park. Due to the often steep terrain and high amount of rainfall supporting dense vegetation, the interior of the Fiordland region is largely inaccessible. As a result, Fiordland was never subjected to notable logging operations, and even attempts at whaling, seal hunting, and mining were on a small scale and short-lived, partly also because of the challenging weather. Today, Fiordland contains by far the greatest extent of u ...
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Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of , and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. The park is administered by the Department of Conservation. of Fiordland were set aside as a national reserve in 1904, following suggestions by then-future Prime Minister Thomas Mackenzie and Southland Commissioner of Crown Lands, John Hay, that the region should be declared a national park. The area had already become a destination for trampers, following the opening up of the Milford Track from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound in 1889 by New Zealand explorers Quintin McKinnon and Donald Sutherland, which received significant publicity from a 1908 article in the London Spectator describing it as the "Finest Walk in the World". The Fiordland "public reserve" was created as a park administered by the Department of Lands and Survey - in practical t ...
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South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers , making it the world's 12th-largest island. At low altitude, it has an oceanic climate. The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at . The high Kaikōura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Christchurch and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and services. ...
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Milford Sound (village)
Milford Sound ( mi, Piopiotahi) is a small village located deep within Fiordland National Park in the Southland region of New Zealand. It is located at the head of the fiord also called Milford Sound. The village and fiord are one of the most visited places in New Zealand, receiving about one million day visitors per year. History Māori were mostly mobile and there is no evidence of permanent settlement in this location. The first European person to live at Milford Sound was the explorer and former soldier Donald Sutherland (1843 or 1844 – 1919), who arrived on 3 December 1877 and lived there for the rest of his life. The nearby Sutherland Falls and Te Hāpua / Sutherland Sound are named after him. After Sutherland married in 1890, he and his wife built an accommodation house; Milford Sound was visited by steamers twice a year during the 1880s. The government paid him to build a track to Sutherland Falls and in his first season in 1888/89, 40 tourists visited. In the following ...
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Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Point in the north to Stewart Island / Rakiura in the south. The comprises 18 (governance areas) corresponding to traditional settlements. Ngāi Tahu originated in the Gisborne District of the North Island, along with Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu, who all intermarried amongst the local Ngāti Ira. Over time, all but Ngāti Porou would migrate away from the district. Several were already occupying the South Island prior to Ngāi Tahu's arrival, with Kāti Māmoe only having arrived about a century earlier from the Hastings District, and already having conquered Waitaha, who themselves were a collection of ancient groups. Other that Ngāi Tahu encountered while migrating through the South Island were Ngāi Tara, Rangitāne, Ngāti T ...
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Mitre Peak (New Zealand)
Mitre Peak (Māori Rahotu) is a mountain in the South Island of New Zealand, located on the shore of Milford Sound. Etymology The mountain was named by Captain John Lort Stokes of HMS ''Acheron'', who found its shape reminiscent of the mitre headwear of Christian bishops. The Māori name for the peak is Rahotu. Geography Mitre Peak is close to the shore of Milford Sound, in the Fiordland National Park in the southwestern South Island. It rises to with almost sheer drops to the water. The peak is actually a closely grouped set of five peaks, although from most easily accessible viewpoints, it appears as a single point. Milford Sound is part of Te Wahipounamu, a World Heritage Site as declared by UNESCO. The imposing setting makes the peak a favourite object for painters. A painting by Charles Decimus Barraud is held by the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui. The only road access to Milford Sound is via State Highway 94. Climbing Mitre Peak is difficult to reach and as a res ...
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South Island Piopio
The South Island piopio (''Turnagra capensis'') also known as the New Zealand thrush, was a passerine bird of the family Oriolidae. Taxonomy and systematics The South Island piopio was originally described in the genus ''Tanagra'' (a synonym for '' Tangara'') and subsequently classified by some authorities in the genus ''Turdus''. For a long time the South Island piopio was considered conspecific with the North Island piopio that dwelt in New Zealand's North Island as the piopio, but later they were recognised as two distinct species due to pronounced differences in external appearance and osteology (Olson ''et al.'', 1983). Based on their smaller size, the description of the Stephens Island piopio was sometimes thought to be based on juvenile birds, but is now considered to be valid (Medway, 2004b). The assumption of a well-flying bird evolving into a distinct subspecies on the small (2.6 km2) island close (3.2 km) to the mainland seems hard to believe, but Ste ...
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Pākehā
Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Zealander. Papa'a has a similar meaning in Cook Islands Māori. Historically before the arrival of other ethnic groups the word Māori meant 'ordinary' or 'normal'. The arrival of Europeans led to the formation of a new term to distinguish the self-regarded 'ordinary' or 'normal' Māori from the new arrivals. The etymology of the word ''Pākehā'' remains unclear, but the term was in use by the late-18th century. In December 1814 the Māori children at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands were "no less eager to see the ''packaha'' than the grown folks". In Māori, plural noun-phrases of the term include (the definite article) and (the indefinite article). When the word was first adopted into English, the usual plural was 'Pakehas'. However, spe ...
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Māori Language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian, it gained recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987. The number of speakers of the language has declined sharply since 1945, but a Māori-language revitalisation effort has slowed the decline. The 2018 New Zealand census reported that about 186,000 people, or 4.0% of the New Zealand population, could hold a conversation in Māori about everyday things. , 55% of Māori adults reported some knowledge of the language; of these, 64% use Māori at home and around 50,000 people can speak the language "very well" or "well". The Māori language did not have an indigenous writing system. Missionaries arriving from about 1814, such as Thomas Kendall, learned to speak Māori, and introduced the Latin alphabet. In 1 ...
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John Grono
John Grono (c.1763–4 May 1847) was a settler, sailor, ship builder, ship captain, sealer, whaler and farmer who migrated to Australia in 1799 from Wales. Captaining the ship , he would later go on to be the first European to fully explore and name parts of the southwestern coast of New Zealand's south island including Milford Sound, Bligh Sound and Elizabeth Island. Early life and arrival in Australia Very little is known of Grono's life prior to his migration to Australia. He was born in Newport, Pembrokeshire, Wales around 1767. Navy records show Grono was involved in a number of navy operations beginning in 1790 when he entered as an able seaman (AB), suggesting he was already an experienced sailor at this time. He was married to Elisabeth Bristowe on 20 July 1790 in Surrey, England. By 1793 he was promoted to the rank of boatswain's mate. On 7 January 1798 Grono joined the crew of HMS '' Buffalo'' as an AB and later that year was again promoted to boatswain's mate. On ...
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Māori Mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in. Māori had yet to invent a writing system before European contact, beginning in 1769, so they had no method to permanently record their histories, traditions, or mythologies. They relied on oral retellings memorised from generation to generation. The three forms of expression prominent in Māori and Polynesian oral literature are genealogical recital, poetry, and narrative prose. Experts in these subjects were broadly known as . The rituals, beliefs, and ge ...
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