WINDIEST PLACE IN N.Z.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 152, 13 April 1950, Page 5

WINDIEST PLACE IN N.Z.

PUYSEGUR POINT REPORT ON FIORDLAND AREA (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Puysegur Point, at the south* westerly tip of the South Island, is the windiest place in New Zealand, and the Fiordland area, just north of this, is thought to be the wettest place in the temperate zones of the world. This is the opinion of the meteorologist, Mr N. C. Robertson, who accompanied last year’s New ZealandAmerican Fiordland expedition. His report states that gales were recorded at Puysegur Point on an average of 48 days a year. Discussing rainfall in Fiordland, Mr Robertson said the annual rainfall was about 250 inches at sea level. It increased with altitude for a few thousand feet, and in places must exceed 300 inches a year. The tourist potenfialities 'of Fiordland National Park are limited mainly to visits by sea to the fiords, and for the hardy the stalking of wapiti and deer in inhospitable country, states the report of the Fiordland expedition. It describes the country as amofig the most inaccessible and least frequented areas, im New Zealand. The only tourist attraction has been, and undoubtedly will remain, continues the report, is the magnificent fiords along the Tasman coast and. along the shores of Lake Te Anau, but no ordinary tourist would or could penetrate beyond them. . ‘ The. report states that there is no evidence of the spreading of trout, arid that native freshwater fish were not abundant: The difficulty of access, the heavy rainfall, sandflies, unsettled stream conditions and other factors would make the sport of fishing unattractive. said the report. Discoveries as important zoologically as the tuatara lizard were made by the expedition in its study of invertebrate fauna. In some groups it appears that in this part"of New Zealand there is relict fauna of considerable antiquity, perhaps a group of basically primitive forms, says the report. In practically all groups there were a number of spe'eies found nowhere else —creatures worthy of the protection of the National Park. There were also creatures whose presence could have been only surmised prior to the expedition, adds the report.