Knobs Flat - Home

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Kia ora

welcome to Knobs Flat deep in the heart of the Eglinton Valley.

Knobs Flat is on the road to Milford Sound, the Routeburn and the Hollyford, and within the vast wilderness that is Fiordland National Park. More than just a scenic locality in this wilderness, the natural biodiversity of the Eglinton holds a not insignificant part in the New Zealand enviroment. A place where active management is ongoing to ensure the longer term protection of the natural values.

At Knobs Flat you can escape from many of the trappings of todays world. But don't let any feeling of remoteness deter you. Your bed and lodgings will be comfortable, the welcome warm and the things to do, reminders of how life once used to be and in some ways, how it might be again.

So join us, stay a night or more, and relax in the peaceful atmosphere at Knobs Flat, or join-in as able and help make a difference in the local environment.

The latest from Knobs Flat

25 March will go down as a 'green' letter day and turning point here at Knobs Flat. We are now running on hydro electricity generated on site. The old diesel generator was turned off and a 30kW hydro electric generator took over the duty. Knobs Flat has just gone a whole magnitude 'greener' and I now feel we can credibly use the often abused term 'eco' when we talk about our business and activities. It has made me think more about 'water' and its place around here. Knobs Flat and Fiordland in particular is well endowed with clean fresh water. Now we operate far more 'sustainably' and the opportunity to tell a story presents itself, of water flowing through the ecosystem while serving both the environment and human use.

The hydro is owned by the Milford Sound Development Authority (MDA) and supplies electricity to the users on site, ourselves Knobs Flat Accommodation, the Department of Conservation and the MDA itself. The MDA is a consortium of companies who own and operate a range of tourism related infrastructure assets and services here and at Milford Sound. We contract to MDA to service their toilets and unstaffed information area along with the supporting assets, power, water, sewage, which we all use here at Knobs Flat.

So what does it mean? When I make the time I will establish a separate web page to cover the whole matter in more depth, the statistics, the benefits and the environmental aspects. Needless to say diesel consumption drops to negligible levels and there are no diesel fume emissions, diesel will only be used when maintenance or other reasons determine that the hydro cannot operate. There is a significant reduction in noise around the premises. Electricity will generally be available 24hrs a day across the whole of Knobs Flat where it was previously limited to the main daylight visitor hours and/or the capacity of individual generators.

There are very few significant or detrimental environmental consequences. Only as much water as is needed at the instant is diverted through a weir to make electricity. The rest stays in the creek until is disappears naturally into the Eglinton riverflat gravels. The tail-race water will be used to enhance native fisheries.

So, if you want to experience some of natures wonders and you like no cell phone coverage, no TV, no radio, no bedside clocks or microwave but a warm dry room, a comfortable night, a place to cook and eat, with a selection of local reading material, the choice of a few games to play and a few short walks or conversation (or not) with the other significant, then stay at Knobs Flat. As Lonely Planet have said "general stress has no place here", long may that last.

Browse around here and elsewhere as you make your plans for an extended winter visit to Fiordland, or indeed as you plan next summers sojourn.

The web site for Knobs Flat continues to be 'work in progress', and that may just be be life. None-the-less I trust it proves useful, informative, appealing and easy to use. Please do feel free to comment. Constructive feedback is always appreciated.