Agreement on any individual site can’t be made, but a compact is settled that, in fact, the whole country deserves eighth-wonder status.
Not surprisingly, Piopiotahi Milford Sound is among the locations proposed. The fiord is one of New Zealand’s absolute treasures. Back in the day before everyone was flooding into the country on jet aircraft, our nascent tourism industry always included Milford Sound on its posters, along with Mt Cook, the Central Plateau volcanoes, and Rotorua.
That’s in spite of the 6800mm of rain which falls at Milford in an average year, and every second day being wet.
There’s no argument Milford Sound is one of the world’s most stunning discovered places — the sheer gneiss and diorite cliffs plunging more than 1000 metres into the black waters of the fiord, which reaches depths of more than 500m in parts, the dark green dripping bush clinging to the sides as waterfalls flush the mountains clean after the latest downpour.
Mitre Peak is among the world’s most recognised mountains, single-handedly showing off the titanic forces which have thrust up the Fiordland region.
Hundreds of millions of years of geology, tectonic activity and, much more recently, glaciers, have shaped what we see today, but the process isn’t over. Erosion and deposition is happening all the time.
Other, far more sudden and severe events shake the region episodically. Fiordland is the most seismically active part of New Zealand, and magnitude-7 earthquakes can occur almost every decade. The much-feared Alpine Fault goes out to sea near the entrance of Milford Sound, and there are warnings of damaging tsunami in the fiords when it eventually ruptures.
Milford Sound is the northernmost fiord in the national park, although nearby Lake McKerrow could have given it a run for its money, were it not for the Hollyford River building up swampy lagoons at the coastal end of the lake.
Unfortunately, the demographics seem all out of whack. Only about 100 people live at Milford Sound, yet, depending which figures you uncover, it seems there are almost 1 million visitors to the fiord a year.
With tourism a huge money-spinner for the New Zealand economy, and desires from the government to make it even more so, something as unique as Milford Sound needs to be punching well about its weight in terms of attracting tourists.
To ensure they have a memorable experience, and go home and recommend it as a must-do to others, everything needs to go smoothly, appear well organised and have clean and accessible infrastructure, from shelters to car parks to public toilets.
An Otago Daily Times investigation shows, however, the settlement is barely functioning. It is dotted with decaying buildings and facilities, built without appropriate involvement with Ngāi Tahu and with only tenuous approvals or concessions to even be there.
It seems while everyone has been gazing around and enjoying the view, critical leadership in developing a grand plan for Piopiotahi has been overlooked. The finger of blame is pointing at the Department of Conservation, with tourism operators accusing it of providing inept direction and management for decades.
Eight years ago, a 10-year plan for the national park expired. Since then, an $18 million Milford Opportunities Project plan came up with recommendations for the government last year but these are yet to see the light of day. Fixed-term permissions from Doc to run tourism businesses are expiring.
As our investigation said, there is no plan, no public funding, no community board — and the toilets are disgraceful. Is this really the best face we want to show to a million people every year? More so, now Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is telling Australians "Everyone Must Go" to experience New Zealand.
Decent leadership for Milford Sound and its kin is precisely what we need if we want to boost tourism sustainably and long-term, rather than degrade it further with quick commando-style tourist raids.
