Mountain Ranges, Deserts and Landforms of New Zealand

Geography

In geographical terms, the Fiordland region contains the huge mountainous regions west of the line from Te Waewae Bay to Monowai to Te Anau, and includes the valleys of the Eglinton River and Hollyford River / Whakatipu Kā Tuka. The area is almost identical to that of the Fiordland National Park, and is marked by U-shaped valleys and fiords along the coast and steep mountains with foundations of hard rocks like gneiss, schist, granite and diorite, with the softer rock having been carved out by multiple glaciations. Fiordland contains New Zealand's oldest known plutonic (igneous) rocks and is dominated by the southernmost extent of the Southern Alps, as the peaks reduce in height from north to south.

Ecology

The area has been categorised as the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion, having a variety of habitats and, due to its isolation, a high number of endemic plants. Much of Fiordland is heavily forested, except for locations where surface rock exposures are extensive. The natural habitats are almost completely unspoilt. Nothofagus "beech trees" are dominant in many locations, silver beech (Nothofagus menziesii) in the fiords and red beech (Nothofagus fusca) in the inland valleys. In the understory there are a wide variety of shrubs and ferns, including crown fern (Blechnum discolor), areas of scrubby herbs above the treeline, patches of bog next to mountain streams and finally an area of rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum)-dominated dunes in the Waitutu area on the south coast.

History

Fiordland has never had any significant permanent population. Māori knew the area well but only visited seasonally, for hunting, fishing and to collect the precious stone pounamu (New Zealand jade) from Anita Bay at the mouth of Milford Sound / Piopiotahi. In Māori mythology, Fiordland is described as being created by the demigod Tū-te-raki-whānoa, who carved the fiords from rock using his adze. As he moved northwards, he perfected his techniques, and considered the last fiord, Milford Sound / Piopiotahi, his greatest achievement.

The name Te Rua-o-te-Moko ("The Pit of Tattooing") is a reference to the visit of the Tākitimu migratory waka to the area. Traditional histories recall the captain of the waka, Tamatea, lost his tattooing ink in Taiari / Chalky Inlet.

Demographics and economy

The Fiordland statistical area covers 12,064.68 km2 (4,658.20 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 130 as of June 2025, with a population density of 0.011 people per km2. Almost the entire population lives at Milford Sound (village).

Fiordland had a population of 111 at the 2018 New Zealand census, a decrease of 12 people (−9.8%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 33 people (−22.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 3 households, comprising 54 males and 60 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.9 males per female.

History

The sounds were extensively travelled and partly inhabited by Māori groups before the coming of the Europeans, using the sounds as shelter from bad weather and partaking of the rich food sources. Māori were also known to carry their canoes over some stretches of land on portage paths. However, as in most areas of the South Island, populations were smaller than in the North Island.

European history of the area is considered to start with Captain Cook's visit to the sounds in the 1770s, discovering a plant (Cook's scurvy grass) high in vitamin C which helped to cure scurvy amongst his crew. On Motuara Island, Cook also proclaimed British sovereignty over the South Island.

Overview

Covering some 4,000 km2 (1,500 sq mi) of sounds, islands, and peninsulas, the Marlborough Sounds lie at the South Island's north-easternmost point, between Tasman Bay in the west and Cloudy Bay in the south-east. The almost fractal coastline has 1/10 of the length of New Zealand's coasts.

The steep, wooded hills and small quiet bays of the sounds are sparsely populated, as access is difficult. Many of the small settlements and isolated houses are only accessible by boat. The main large port is Picton on the mainland, at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. It is at the northern terminus of the South Island's main railway and state highway networks. The main small-boat port, Waikawa, is one of New Zealand's largest and provides a base for leisure sailors and vacationers.

Geography

The Southern Alps run approximately 500 km northeast to southwest. The tallest peak is Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealand at 3,724 metres (12,218 ft). The Southern Alps includes sixteen other points that exceed 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in height (see NZ mountains by height). The mountain ranges are bisected by glacial valleys, many of which are infilled with glacial lakes on the eastern side including Lake Coleridge in the north and Lake Wakatipu in Otago in the south. According to an inventory conducted in the late 1970s, the Southern Alps contained over 3,000 glaciers larger than one hectare, the longest of which – the Tasman Glacier – is 23.5 kilometres (14.6 mi) in length, retreated from a recent maximum of 29 kilometres (18 mi) in the 1960s.

Geology

The Southern Alps lie along a geological plate boundary, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, with the Pacific Plate to the southeast pushing westward and colliding with the northward-moving Indo-Australian Plate to the northwest. Over the last 45 million years, the collision has pushed up a 20 km thickness of rocks on the Pacific Plate to form the Alps, although much of this has been eroded away. Uplift has been most rapid during the last 5 million years, and the mountains continue to be raised today by tectonic pressure, causing earthquakes on the Alpine Fault and other nearby faults. Despite the substantial uplift, most of the relative motion along the Alpine Fault is transverse, not vertical.

Geography

Banks Peninsula forms the most prominent volcanic feature of the South Island, similar to – but more than twice as large as – the older Dunedin Volcano (Otago Peninsula and Harbour) 350 kilometres (220 mi) to the southwest. Geologically, the peninsula comprises the eroded remnants of two large shield volcanoes (Lyttelton formed first, then Akaroa), and the smaller Mount Herbert Volcanic Group. These formed due to intraplate volcanism between approximately eleven and eight million years ago (Miocene) on a continental crust. The peninsula formed as offshore islands, with the volcanoes reaching to about 1,500 m above sea level. Two dominant craters formed Lyttelton and Akaroa Harbours.

History

According to tradition, the first Māori settlers of the area now known as Banks Peninsula were the Waitaha, led by their founding ancestor Rākaihautū. The Māori name for the peninsula is Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū (The Storehouse of Rākaihautū) in recognition of his deeds and the abundance of mahinga kai (foods of the forests, sea, rivers and skies). They were followed by Kāti Māmoe, and then the Ngāi Tahu hapū Ngāi Tūhaitara, who arrived in the 1730s.

The first European sighting of the peninsula was on 17 February 1770 by Captain James Cook and crew during Cook's first circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook described the land as "of a circular figure... of a very broken uneven surface and [having] more the appearance of barrenness than fertility."

Economy

Agriculture has been the main economic activity on Banks Peninsula historically. Mussel farming is carried out at several sites off the coast. Following the major earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, which affected Christchurch and Lyttelton (the harbour serving Christchurch), cruise ships were diverted to Akaroa Harbour.

Geography

The peninsula was formed at the same time as the hills facing it across the harbour, as part of the large, long-extinct Dunedin Volcano. Several of the peninsula's peaks demonstrate these volcanic origins, notably Hereweka which was named 'Harbour Cone' by pākehā settlers. These rocks were built up between 13 and 10 million years ago.

Much of the peninsula is steep hill country, with the highest points being Mount Charles (408m), Highcliff (381m), and Sandymount (320m). Two tidal inlets lie on the Pacific coast of the peninsula: Hoopers Inlet and Papanui Inlet. Between them is the headland of Cape Saunders. Nearby natural features include the 250-metre-high cliffs of Lovers' Leap and The Chasm.

History

New Zealand was first settled by humans around 1300 AD, and in the South Island, people concentrated on the east coast. In the Archaic (moa-hunting) period, the Otago Peninsula was a relatively densely occupied area at the centre of the country's most populous region.

A map of recorded Māori archaeological sites for the Otago Conservancy shows many more on the Otago Peninsula than elsewhere in the region. Another showing only those of the Archaic period shows sites clustered on the peninsula and along the coast across the harbour to the west and north.

Natural history

Various species of endemic, rare, and endangered wildlife have been confirmed in the vicinity of Otago Peninsula both on land and at sea. Jewelled geckos are known from the area. Giant moa were historically seen on the peninsula. Endangered ocean megafauna such as basking sharks, great white sharks, and leatherback turtles have been confirmed along Otago coasts.

There is a diversity of flora and fauna on the Otago Peninsula. Birds observed include the endangered yellow-eyed penguin, Megadyptes antipodes, little penguin, shags, and the northern royal albatross. The albatross' breeding colony on Taiaroa Head is the only one in the world close to large-scale human cultivation and habitation.