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Hollyford Track - Fiordland

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Hollyford Track


Description

The Hollyford Track is in Fiordland National Park, part of the South-West New Zealand World Heritage Area.

The Hollyford Track is the only major track in Fiordland that it is largely flat and accessible all year-round. Beginning at the end of Lower Hollyford Road, the track follows the Hollyford River on its journey to the sea, to the old port of Martins Bay. Features of the track are the two lakes, Lake Alabaster, Waiwahuika, and Lake McKerrow, Whakatipu Waitai, the latter being a fiord now cut off from the sea by sediment. The track runs through lowland forest with views of surrounding mountains. It's a 56 kilometre hike that takes four to five days to traverse.

For independent hikers, there are six huts on this track, no booking is required, and bunks are available on a first-come first-served basis. Hut tickets must be purchased in advance from DOC (Department of Conservation) centres. It is also possible to be guided, to stay in comfortable lodges, with hot showers and all meals provided.

Incidentally, Fiordland is famous for it's natural beauty, it's rainforest, and it's sandflies.

History
Martins Bay, known to the Maori as Kotuku, was an important Ngai Tahu settlement on the West Coast between 1650 and 1800. It was well sited for access to the food resources of the lakes, sea and forests, as well as pounamu and takiwai stone, commonly known as jade or greenstone. The valley is one of the few low-level routes from the interior to the sea. Early New Zealand pioneers knew that Maori used the route to carry greenstone jade out of the mountains to the coast for transport and trade elsewhere on the island.

     
(page last updated  1 May 2007)