Posted to the Fiordland Advocate Newspaper 23 February 2015
A Chief Ranger once told me what a Burden it is running a National Park and being expected that every one in it will be safe from harm in it.
Just Lately I bet he is glad he no longer has that responsibility.
People forget Fiordland is a dangerous place and one must keep ones wits sharp in you want to get home to live another day. Every Bush walk can fool you if you stray too far
Especial at right angles, every waterway can be a pleasure or a Peril.
But people are spell bound to seek out our Wilderness and that means we have to present it in a way that is not only safe but satisfies the desire to explore and to photograph.
And though the Department of Conservation has done a great job for Mass Transit to the Chasm they sacrificed the Ambience it once had for the needs of the Tour Companies.
If you want to find the REAL (Milford) Chasm today you have to risk life and limb to see it. There should be a second walkway for Nature Lovers to see the lower reaches that look magical on Camera. I think that falls in the mandate of a National Park Management dialogue. Same goes for the Bowen Falls, we don’t want to walk around the airport, Let us see the Darn Waterfall. Perhaps we have to put up signs outside the Park that it is in-fact a wilderness and you are on your own if things go wrong. That’s the deal with Wilderness. It’s a bit Wild and Natural Selection Rules there.
A Chief Ranger once told me what a Burden it is running a National Park and being expected that every one in it will be safe from harm in it.
Just Lately I bet he is glad he no longer has that responsibility.
People forget Fiordland is a dangerous place and one must keep ones wits sharp in you want to get home to live another day. Every Bush walk can fool you if you stray too far
Especial at right angles, every waterway can be a pleasure or a Peril.
But people are spell bound to seek out our Wilderness and that means we have to present it in a way that is not only safe but satisfies the desire to explore and to photograph.
And though the Department of Conservation has done a great job for Mass Transit to the Chasm they sacrificed the Ambience it once had for the needs of the Tour Companies.
If you want to find the REAL (Milford) Chasm today you have to risk life and limb to see it. There should be a second walkway for Nature Lovers to see the lower reaches that look magical on Camera. I think that falls in the mandate of a National Park Management dialogue. Same goes for the Bowen Falls, we don’t want to walk around the airport, Let us see the Darn Waterfall. Perhaps we have to put up signs outside the Park that it is in-fact a wilderness and you are on your own if things go wrong. That’s the deal with Wilderness. It’s a bit Wild and Natural Selection Rules there.
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