Fiordland 336481 220920751 2008-06-22T06:06:39Z SmackBot 433328 Date the maintenance tags or general fixes [[Image:Fiordland Lake Marian.jpg|thumb|[[Lake Marian]] in [[Fiordland National Park]] near the [[Homer Tunnel]] on the road to [[Milford Sound]].]] [[Image:Homer Saddle LookingWest.jpg|right|thumb|Winter view from west portal of [[Homer Tunnel]].]] '''Fiordland''' is a geographic region of [[New Zealand]] that is situated on the south-western corner of the [[South Island]]. Most of it is covered by the [[Fiordland National Park]], which has an area of 12,120 [[square kilometre]]s, making it the largest [[national park]] in New Zealand and one of the larger parks in the world, containing many famous [[hiking|tramping]] tracks. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the [[Southern Alps]] and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys. Situated within Fiordland are [[Browne Falls]] and [[Sutherland Falls]], which rank among the tallest [[waterfall]]s in the world. Administration of the area was as "The [[County]] of Fiord" for part of the 20th century until it was absorbed into Wallace County. Since 1989 it has been in [[Southland, New Zealand|Southland]] region. The name "Fiordland" comes from the now-common variant of the [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] word "[[fjord]]". Fiordland features a number of [[fiords]] (often misnamed [[Sound (geography)|sounds]]), of which [[Milford Sound]] is the most famous, though [[Doubtful Sound]] is even larger and has more and longer branches (but is also more inaccessible). ==Constituent fiords== From north to south: *[[Milford Sound]] *Bligh Sound *George Sound *Caswell Sound *Charles Sound *Nancy Sound *Thompson Sound *[[Doubtful Sound]] *Dagg Sound *Breaksea Sound *[[Dusky Sound]] *Chalky Inlet *[[Preservation Inlet]] == Demographics / Economy == Fiordland has few human inhabitants and is the least-populated area of [[New Zealand]]'s [[South Island]] (48 in 2001, virtually uninhabited),<ref>[http://www2.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/CommProfiles.nsf/FindInfobyArea/612901-au Population] (from the Fiordland Community Profile at Statistics [[New Zealand]])</ref><ref>Note that the census area cited here does not match other statistical areas such as that used for the employment numbers also given below, which uses a wider area.</ref> with no cities and many areas almost inaccessible except by boat or air. The only settlements close by / in Fiordland (depending on definition) are [[Manapouri]] and [[Te Anau]] township, which has under 2,000 permanent habitants (though it boasts around 3,000 [[tourist]] beds).{{Fact|date=April 2008}} The nearest cities are [[Queenstown, New Zealand|Queenstown]] and [[Invercargill]] but both are over 150 km away from Te Anau via [[New Zealand State Highway network|Highway 94]]. [[Blanket Bay Hotel]] may be the westernmost permanently inhabited locality of New Zealand, a fishermen's refueling and supply depot on a small island at the head of [[Doubtful Sound]].<ref>[http://www.fishingmag.co.nz/fiordland.htm Fiordland Groper] (from 'fishingmag.co.nz' website. Accessed 2008-06-22.)</ref><ref>[http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=-45.300913&lon=166.978701&z=18&l=5&m=h Blanket Bay Hotel on satellite photo] (from [[Wikimapia]] website. Accessed 2008-06-22.)</ref>{{Fact|date=June 2008}}<!-- still needs refs on whether its permanently occupied --> Except for [[electricity]] generation (at the [[Manapouri Power Station]]) and some agriculture, tourism is the only other major economic factor of the region. Visitor spending in Fiordland was NZ$ 92 million in 2003, and 1,017 people were employed fulltime in the Fiordland tourism industry, with an additional 1,900 people considered to be employed in tourism industry support services.<ref name="GHD">[http://www.southlandnz.com/sites/southlandnz.com/images/venture/major_projects/Transport/Milford%20Issues%20and%20Options%20Vfinal.pdf Milford Sound Transport - Issues and Options] ([[GHD Ltd]] for [[Venture Southland]], 2005)</ref> Most tourists head to the [[Milford Sound]], though tramping in the more accessible eastern parts of the alps is also popular. Nonetheless, the remoteness of the region limits even tourism, and after relatively short visits to the major sites, most tourists tend to return to other areas, such as Queenstown or Invercargill. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.fiordland.org.nz/ Destination Fiordland] (regional tourism organisation) * [http://petshopgirlsreviews.com/photography/fiordland.php Fiordland ] (photographs from Fiordland on a private website) * [http://fiordlandbottlenosedolphins.blogspot.com Fiordland Bottlenose Dolphins] (blog and information about conservation projects) [[Category:Fiordland| ]] [[Category:Southland, New Zealand]] [[Category:Coastline of New Zealand]] [[Category:Fjords of New Zealand]] [[it:Fiordland]] [[he:פיורדלנד]] [[mk:Фјордленд]] [[ja:フィヨルドランド]] [[pt:Fjordland]] [[zh:菲奥德兰]]