Ms Wilkinson accepted the petition and a copy of the book High Country Woman -my life on Rees Valley Station, by Glenorchy local Iris Scott, before she flew from Queenstown.
Petition organiser Patricia Ko said the online petition, which collected 1000 signatures in its first two days, had been running three and a-half weeks and totalled 4158 when she left for the airport.
"The idea for the petition came about because of the submission process. It was really hard to understand and takes a long time to read through what you had to do."
She said the petition was not just a collection of names. Many had left comments.
"You can leave a comment and probably about 50% have done that, and they are all beautiful little pleas.
"We're hoping she will at least read the comments, because the comments are beautiful and individual and should be taken into account."
Although the women said they did not plan the hand-over to coincide with Queenstown hosting the national tourism expo, Trenz, several signatures were from overseas people who were essentially "potential tourists".
Some had refused to come back to New Zealand if the tunnel went ahead.
"This needs to stop as soon as possible. It's not just bad for Glenorchy, it's bad for New Zealand."
The 11.6km, $150 million tunnel would run from the Routeburn Rd in Mt Aspiring National Park to the Hollyford Rd in the Fiordland National Park.
Last week, it was deemed "technically viable" by an engineer.
MDL's proposal attracted more than 1200 submissions, and public hearings were held in Queenstown and Te Anau over two weeks in March.
The company's response to the submitters and the Doc hearing panel was completed last Friday.
Since the submission process had closed, the Otago Daily Times asked Mrs Wilkinson how much weight would be given to the petition. The minister said it would be considered, along with the other submissions.
She would not say when the final decision would be.
