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Concession granted for Fiordland tunnel 25-Nov-2011 At 10:29:50 AM Cesca

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On 25/11/2011 Wendy wrote:
>there's a tunnel through Mt Blanc too, but it does go from super busy,
>highly developed valley to also quite busy, developed valley. There is
>really not a lot of stuff you might consider wilderness running around
>those tunnels. They are in highly populated countries that have been inhabited
>by humans for 1000000 years or so. Whereas this end of NZ still has a lot
>of relatively untouched stuff, although the mere 1000 years or so of human
>habitation in NZ has had a remarkable impact already.

Agreed, on all points.

The Hollyford and Dart Valleys are both stunning wilderness areas, in my view. The thought of having roads to tunnel entrances/exits in both places is just hideous. Surely wilderness is what draws so many tourists to NZ.....

...or is it?

The potentially shorter journey to Milford Sound offered by the tunnel seems to be largely for the convenience of the type of tourist who shuffles directly from the bus and into the boat terminal, onto the wharf, onto the boat, promptly falls asleep, wakes up near the end of the cruise to hastily snap some pics of a few seals, then shuffles back through the boat terminal and back onto the bus, where they promptly fall asleep again. I observed many thousands of this type of tourist in the three years I spent guiding, boat hosting, accommodation hosting and office ticketing in Milford Sound.

Get faster to and from something that you don't even appreciate/have much interest in anyway...

So really, it seems that this tunnel is for the benefit of those marketing week-long NZ 'experiences' to people who get ten days annual leave.