The 'South' Explored

I have been told that Marcus Lush’s programme “South,” which is on TV1 at 7pm on Sunday, is more popular with New Zealanders than the news.

“South” is such a great advertisement for Southland and Fiordland and a really positive and fun programme to watch. Well done Marcus.

My husband, Murray, recently went on the same trip around Dusky Sound on the Wanderer as Marcus has just completed on the programme. It had been more than 40 years since Murray had been around that sound and he arrived home buzzing from a trip of a lifetime. He could not put into words how he felt as he found the whole trip so special and overwhelming.

That sums up the part of the world that we are lucky enough to live in.

The last time Murray visited Dusky Sound he was a young man and had not read the history of this beautiful area. Thanks to John Hall Jones’  “Fiordland Explored,” AC and NC Begg’s “Dusky Bay” and many other books which are so rich in New Zealand history, this time Murray could really get a feeling for those early Maori and explorers that are so much a part of our history.

We remember people like Richard Henry, who was New Zealand’s first wildlife ranger on Resolution Island in Dusky Sound, and who transferred nearly 600 kiwi and kakapo to the island. 

Sadly Henry was devastated by the discovery of a stoat on the island and he left. However, he was the inspiration for our present-day successes in making islands predator-free. The Department of Conservation, the Fiordland Conservation Trust and many volunteers and funders are now working on restoring these islands to predator-free status so we can hear and see the birds again.

Passage Island, for example, has been predator-free for some time and the sound of birds is almost deafening.

Murray saw Cascade Cove, the site of an early painting of Maori, which we have a print of on our wall, and he stood where Captain James Cook cut down trees for his ship.

Murray had previously helped restore the old cannon from the Endeavour, which was shipwrecked at Facile Harbour, and so was very interested in looking at the area in Dusky Sound where they were retrieved from.

Dusky Sound is now part of the Fiordland Marine Area, which is tailored to the different habitats and needs. Fishing is banned in particular areas, and commercial and recreational fisheries regulations are in place. This all protects the marine eco-system which is not as obvious as the scenery around it but just as valuable and just as beautiful. It provides a huge variety of habitats and is home to rare species only found in this area.

We are so lucky to live close to what is a wonder of the natural world and “South” and other such productions give people the chance to see this splendour, when often they might not get the chance to because of its remoteness. Hopefully this show will help promote the need to protect our environment – our World Heritage Fiordland.