Fiordland
Fiordland National Park has World Heritage status and is New Zealand's largest and most stunning wilderness area, situated in the deep south-western reaches of the South Island. With its towering mountains, deep valleys, and long narrow fiords carved by great glaciers over millennia, Fiordland remains almost untouched by the human encroachment affecting most wilderness areas.
The multitude of deep-water fiords, from popular Milford Sound to the remote Doubtful Sound, offer unsurpassed cruising amongst vertiginous cliffs, their sheer rock faces rising from the sea like giant stone icebergs, some looming more than 4000 feet above sea level. The area’s abundant rainfall creates an ever-changing landscape of untamed waterfalls tumbling into virgin podocarp and beech forest.
Such a pristine environment is home to all manner of wildlife, including rare crested penguins, paradise and blue ducks, kiwis, herons, morepork (native owl), native pigeons, native parrots such as the kaka and kea, and rarest of them all, the endangered kakapo. Fiordland is like no other place on earth – birdsong abounds and the dawn chorus, once heard, is never forgotten.
The area also has some of New Zealand's finest walking tracks, including the Milford, Routeburn and Keplar tracks. Or visitors can marvel at the majestic scenery from the air, choosing from scenic flights in helicopters or fixed wing aircraft including floatplanes.
Galerna is the only luxury yacht to have a concession to operate charters in this amazing area. With its Scandinavian heritage, Galerna is right at home sailing these awe-inspiring fiords, forever guarded by their sentinels of towering granite. It is truly the quintessential New Zealand luxury cruising experience.
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