The road to Milford Sound, part I

Fjordland National Park, in the south-west corner of New Zealand, is one of the wildest places in the country. In the valleys, lush native forests dwell below indomitable cliffs from which waterfalls cascade on rainy days, and at the top, snow covers alpine heaths and rocky peaks until late in the season.

Most of it is unaccessible to the average traveler. However, one road will take you from Te Anau to the sea, passing along majestic sceneries that will stay stuck in your mind for a while: the road to Milford Sound. Landscapes are stunning but wildlife is exciting as well: most of the region has escaped logging, and with great efforts made to control mammals, many birds are now thriving there.

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NATURE

Volunteering for penguins at Sandfly Bay

As some of you know, I spent the months of February and March in Dunedin, in southern New Zealand. It was summer, this lovely city was sunny and rather warm… but that’s not what pushed me to stay there.

You see, in November, on my way south to Invercargill and the Subantarctic Islands, I had stopped in Dunedin to talk with Karen, the ranger responsible for the volunteering program at Sandfly Bay. She had told me about the Yellow-eyed penguins (Megadyptes antipodes) that nest in the dunes there, and about the visitors that need to be kept at bay for the birds to thrive… they needed people to set up signs and talk to visitors, to educate them to the threats those cute birds face in the world today.

Up to 65cm tall, endemic to New Zealand (southern South Island, Auckland Islands and Campbell Island), the fourth largest penguin in the world is also one of the most threatened, and it’s classified as Endangered by the IUCN. Its population has dwindled by 50-80% in the past 21 years, has become extremely fragmented in the process, and has shown dramatic fluctuations from year to year.

Yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes), seen here in the Subantarctic Islands

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