About Alistair Child

Hi again, a bit about me. I started in Dunedin (N.Z.) not too many years ago. (who's counting). Did the school thing, although not very well.  When not at school I rode horses, quite a lot and did very well at that.

In my late teens I  took up diving and have never stopped.

WORK

I was something of a part time artist and among other jobs I did some time in the Otago Medical School drawing things, (you don't want to know) and later became a  commercial artist  for a newspaper, The Otago Daily Times.

 It was about that time I decided I needed a change in life so, of all things I took up fishing, commercial crayfishing. Ten dollars over the fisheries department counter for a fishing licence. I then bought a boat and off I went. Well you could in those days. Today it would cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars but not then.

I did that for about twenty years, starting off out of Dunedin but ending up a couple of years later in Milford Sound Fiordland and have been working there and living in Te Anau ever since. Te Anau my home, being the gateway to the Fiordland National Park. I now live in Wanaka and work from home.

The first time I arrived in Milford Sound it was by boat and at night. Next morning I climbed out of bed, out onto the deck, looked up and my mouth dropped. There is nothing that can prepare one for this.

How many ways can you describe this, I'm not even going to try, you should just come, (to Fiordland or Milford Sound).

The Underwater Observatory

As I said earlier, although I was now  fishing, and still diving and got involved with the then, New Zealand Oceanographic Institute  working on many of the very special animals that live underwater in these southern fiords.

Not too much was known about the fiords in those days or the life below, but that all changed in a flurry of research over the next few years. I became involved in this research through my boating,diving and artistic ability drawing Brachiopods and there mussel structure. Brachiopods as a species date back 600,000,000 years.

Some of the more unique animals are Black Coral, Red Coral and as mentioned Brachiopods, to touch on a few of the many. My association with the institute ultimately led to the building of the Milford Underwater Observatory which can be found in Harrison's Cove at Milford Sound.

My part in this was helping develop the concept, doing all the underwater work, the creation of the underwater gardens. I later became the operations manager, doing that for eleven years.

By this time I had stopped fishing and stayed with the Underwater Observatory till it was sold to the Milford Sound Red Boats in July 2006.

Now                                                                      

Marion, my partner and I had spent most of our time in Te Anau except in the winter when we did a lot of skiing and spend a few of the winter months in Wanaka. Recently I moved to Wanaka and now live there full time. I did this for business reasons and I now sell the technology that makes this website possible.

Yet again I have a whole new shift in my life and something else to look forward to.

So don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding Fiordland, Southland or anything in this website.

Hope to cross roads or emails with you sometime soon.