The Hollyford Track is a tramping track in New Zealand. Located at the northern edge of

Fiordland Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...

, in the southwestern

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

, it is unusual among Fiordland's major tracks in that it is largely flat and accessible year-round. It follows the

Hollyford River The Hollyford River / Whakatipu Kā Tuka is in the southwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It runs for through Fiordland, its sources being close to the Homer Tunnel and in Gertrude Valley in the southern Darran Mountains. At first, the ...

which in turn follows the course of the

Hollyford Valley Hollyford Valley is a valley in Fiordland, New Zealand, in the southwest of the South Island. It is named for the Hollyford River, which runs north-north-west along its length from the Southern Alps (New Zealand), Southern Alps to the Tasman Sea ...

History

The

Māori people Māori () are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of Māori migration canoes, c ...

were the first to settle the area around Martins Bay, though by the time of the arrival of Europeans in the mid-19th century, only a handful remained in the area. One of these was Tūtoko, for whom

Mount Tūtoko Mount Tūtoko is the highest peak in Fiordland National Park, in southwest New Zealand. It lies between the Hollyford Valley and Milford Sound, due north of the Homer Tunnel at the northern end of the Darran Mountains. The glacier-covered mou ...

, which rises 2700m above the Hollyford valley, was subsequently named. he first Europeans to reach the bay via an inland route was

Patrick Caples Patrick Quirk Caples ( – 27 November 1904) was a New Zealand gold prospector, explorer and mine director. He was born in Bilboa, County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland ...

from Hollyford, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1863, although early runholders David McKellar and George Gunn had mapped some of the valley two years previously. Also in 1863, a small ship captained by a Captain Alabaster crossed the sandbar at Martins Bay to reach Lake McKerrow. In the early days of European settlement, there was much enthusiasm for a commercial port at Martins Bay, led by the

Otago Provincial Council The Otago Province was a Provinces of New Zealand, province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital of the province was Dunedin. Southland Province split from Otago in 1861, but became part of the provin ...

. A settlement – Jamestown – was surveyed and several houses built, but the lack of road links to the rest of the province and the dangerous sandbar led to the gradual waning of the settlement, which was practically deserted by 1879, only some eleven years after its founding. Only one family, the McKenzies, remained close to Martins Bay. They sold their property to Davy Gunn in 1926. Gunn continued to farm the area, and also mapped the area and was a pioneer in the tramping tourism industry, taking parties of walkers along the valleys of the Hollyford, Pyke and Cascade Rivers. After his death in 1955, his son Murray continued to guide trampers in the area, and started "Gunn's Camp", a rest-stop for trampers with store and small museum, which still stands near the southern end of the track, around 10 km from the

Milford Sound Milford Sound (, officially gazetted as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi) is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage ...

Te Anau Te Anau is a town in the Southland, New Zealand, Southland List of regions in New Zealand, region of the South Island of New Zealand. In Māori language, Māori, Te-Anau means the Place of the Swirling Waters. It is on the eastern shore of Lake ...

highway. The gravel road was being constructed up until 1941 when the workers were taken off the job for the war effort and was worked on both ends. After World War II the idea of a road linking Haast to Hollyford was reignited to allow access and used prison and unemployed labor to progress the work. In 1960, the valley became part of

Fiordland National Park Fiordland National Park is a national park in the south-west corner of South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest of the 13 National parks of New Zealand, national parks in New Zealand, with an area covering , and a major part of the Te W� ...

and Davy Gunn's original tracks have since been upgraded and tramping huts established.

The track

The track is in length. It runs in a roughly south–north direction, its southern end being accessible by road 15 kilometres to the east of the Homer Tunnel, and its northern end being at the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

coast at Martins Bay, north of

. For most of its path, the track follows the course of the

. Features of the track are the two lakes, Lake Alabaster (or ''Waiwahuika'') and Lake McKerrow (or ''Whakatipu Waitai''), the latter being a fiord now cut off from the sea by sediment. The track runs through lowland forest, with views of surrounding mountains. Wildlife visible from the track include

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

s, and

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

s. The track is part of th
Department of Conservation
network with several bunk huts scattered along its length. It also has
guided operation
operated b
Ngai Tahu Tourism
(owned by the main South Island Maori tribal group) with their own Lodges at Pyke and Martins Bay. The guided option combines hiking, jetboating and helicopter flights in a three-day journey from the mountains to the sea. Freedom walkers can make the walk more accessible by flying into or out of Martins Bay. Walkers are advised to be aware that the 2–3 day section from the Pyke River to Martins Bay alongside Lake McKerrow is well known as the 'Demon Trail'. This due to its uneven nature with multiple side streams. The Demon trail is aptly named and can be slippery in the wet.

Road proposals

There have been a number of proposals for a road in the vicinity of the track to link Haast with the

road, proposed as early as the 1870s. In 2001 a widely distributed newspaper advertising supplement "The South Island Loop" promoted the Hollyford road as well as a road in the vicinity of the Heaphy Track. Mayors in the South Island and other supporters pushed for having the road built.

Forest and Bird Forest & Bird (), also known by its formal name as the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, is an environmental organisation specialising in the protection and conservation biology, conservation of New Zealand's indigenous F ...

, New Zealand's largest conservation organisation, called it the "biological equivalent of smashing the Mona Lisa". In January 2010, the National-led government confirmed that it was considering a Hollyford road proposal. The

Westland District Westland District is a territorial authority district on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is administered by the Westland District Council. The district's population is History Westland was originally a part of Canterbury ...

Council and the owner of a hotel chain are backing plans for the road. The plans were however put on hold in March 2010, when government decided that the investment was a low priority.

References

External links

Hollyford Track
at the Department of Conservation {{coord, 44.6928, S, 168.1258, E, source:wikidata, display=title Hiking and tramping tracks in Fiordland Tourist attractions in the Southland Region Hiking and tramping tracks in Otago Westland District Hiking and tramping tracks in the West Coast Region Fiordland National Park

History

The track

Road proposals

See also

References

Further reading

External links