Fiordland acclaimed in U.S. article

Press, 7 January 1982, Page 18

Fiordland acclaimed in U.S. article

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor

New Zealand tourism has received an unexpected boost tn an illustrated article on Fiordland in a recent travel :ection of the mass circulation “New York Times.”

The newspaper devoted a oage and a half to the article, worth more than 550,000 in advertising space. The article, with a 10tolumn panorama of Milford sound, was lead story in the '4-page travel section. It was written by a regular contributor, R. V. Deneberg. Mr Deneberg described ‘New Zealand’s rugged land of fiords” as “the Norway of the Antipodes.” “Nature and history have conspired to keep the region obscure,” he wrote. “The sinuous inland channels are enshrouded in an alpine wilderness so dense that some of it nas yet to be explored. “Hardy as they were, even the nineteenth-century British settlers of New Zealand gravitated to more hospitable parts, leaving behind a lonely realm of lighthousebeepers and gold prospec'ors. It remains the remotest

corner of an already remote country.” Although the article contains much useful information for intending travellers, it also includes two glaring errors.

Auckland is described as New Zealand’s capital, and a map shows a ferry service between Wellington and Lyttelton.

Mr Deneberg was obviously impressed by the Te Anau area and the road to Milford Sound.

“Te Anau’s night life centres on the coal stoves in village pubs,” he wrote, noting also that meals could be bought there for as little as

$5. Readers learn that Lake Gunn was named after a “colourful backwoodsman, Davy Gunn, who in the 1930 s specialised in rescuing lost aviators.”

The article contains details on the Milford Track, the Routebum, and day excursions to Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. A sub-head-ing notes, “The area supports a richly various fauna, from cormorants and fur seals to a cave full of luminous glowworms.”