Preservation Inlet - our first walk

13 August - still our first day after the helicopter ride in.  We cruised through Long Sound, almost the full length of Preservation Inlet, to Kisbee Bay, where we visited the site of an old gold mining and timber settlement named Cromarty.  Here 1,000 people lived in its heyday in the 1860's-1890's.   Nothing remains now except for an old boiler from the sawmill and a few bricks and remnants of the Kisbee Hotel.  A large patch of rhododendrons has been allowed to continue growing here for historic reasons, but they do seem out of place!

We were lucky to spot a Fiordland Crested Penguin in Long Sound - these are quite rare.

The beach at Cromarty

A few remains of the Kisbee Hotel

The old boiler from saw milling days

A small patch of private property remains within Fiordland National Park at the site of Cromarty.  Here the owners have built a lodge for hunting and fishing.

We were invited inside 

View looking back to the Milford Wanderer

It was almost getting dark but we had a last short stop at Cemetery Island, a very small island with a historic grave.  The plaque reads: "William Docherty, Explorer and Prospector, Died at Cromarty 20th March 1896 aged 65 years, and was buried here by his fellow diggers.   Erected by the Tuatapere Lions Club 1970".  Docherty was a colourful local character who died at the Kisbee hotel.

The Milford Wanderer in Preservation Inlet (taken by Owen)