Frasers Beach Lake Manapouri

Manapouri is the gateway to Doubtful & Dusky Sounds. Its beauty and serenity have delighted travellers from all over the world. Frazers/Frasers Beach is one of Fiordland's best spots for swimming. A conservation fight was waged here between 1959 and 1972 to prevent the raising of the levels of lakes Manapouri and Te Anau as part of the construction of the Manapouri Power Project.

Neville Peat wrote: "At its simplest, the issue was about whether Lake Manapouri should be raised by as much as 30 metres. But there was much more at stake than that. There were strong economic and engineering arguments opposing lake raising, and there were also legal and democratic issues underlying the whole debate. What captured the public's imagination across the country was the prospect that a lake as beautiful as Manapouri could be interfered with, despoiled and debased".

A public petition collected 264,907 signatures and while it did not persuade the government, its successor under Prime Minister Norman Kirk created an independent body, the Guardians of Lake Manapouri, Monowai, and Te Anau to oversee management of the lake levels.

Today's Manapouri still offers recreation opportunities, like Fraser's beach where visitors may walk, swim, fish, kayak or rest, depending on the sandflies.