Vacation Ideas: New Zealand National Parks
Learn about the beautiful National Parks of New Zealand. A guide to the sights of a real paradise down under.
It has been called by many ‘the next best thing to paradise’.
This land which lies some 1,200 miles away from Australia is called New Zealand.
The parks of New Zealand are truly amazing natural scenic wonders. In fact
referring to one of the National Parks of New Zealand, Poet Rudyard Kipling
described it as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’.
The Park that he was referring to was Fiordland National Park. located in the South Island of New Zealand. Fiordland National Park is located in a remote corner at the bottom of the country, it borders the Tasman Sea, which separates New Zealand from Australia. From north to south the park covers only about 160 miles, but more than a dozen fiords cut it up so as to give it nearly 1,000 miles of shoreline.The park covers a total of some 3.1 million acres of land, thus making it one of the biggest parks in the world. The only way in which many of the fiords can be reached is by either boat or plane, thus their natural beauty stays intact. Manapouri and Te Anau Lakes form an impressive gateway to these parks. They are surrounded by mountains, which are covered in natural forests. North of these lakes is the Eglington River Valley, which is a flat, gently rising,valley about a mile or two wide. There is a road which takes you to Milford Sound, this road takes you through some of the natural forest areas of this valley. The river which you will drive along is apparently one of the finest rivers in the country for fly fishing of trout, however you will need a license for this. Along this road is a three quarter mile long tunnel which has only one lane and is only open for twenty five minutes each way each hour. So this may give you time to reflect on the sheer beauty of this National Park of New Zealand. Once through this long dark tunnel, the road plunges some 2,300 feet down in seven miles of tight winding bends thru the native bush of this land. You need a good sturdy veichle to get down here safely; in fact, it is a non-insurable road to drive. Finally, the road stops at the waters edge, you look behind to see the natural rain forest, and the sheer steepness of the road that you have just mastered. To stand at sea level dwarfed by these huge snow capped peaks is truly an awe inspiring thing to see. The sounds before us are the Milford Sounds, which go thru these wonderful mountain ranges. This is only one of our National Parks of New Zealand. The whole land is full of natural parks that express the sheer beauty of this country. Next time that you are able to visit New Zealand, make sure that you visit some of these natural parks. Then you too may be inspired just as Kipling was when he said that they were the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ or the next best thing to Paradise. |
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