Fiordland Search and Rescue stalwart Stewart Burnby has seen a fair bit over the years.

A veteran of search and rescue, Burnby has spent more than 20 years bringing the lost and injured back from the Fiordland wilderness.

Burnby is a member of Fiordland Search and Rescue and serves as the LandSAR Southland-Otago secretary.

Though he still trains actively in the field his extensive knowledge and experience has seen him shift into the area of leadership and coordination.

He knows the tricky and treacherous areas where people have,and will continue to come to trouble because of countless rescues, but mostly because Fiordland is where he grew up. 

He spent the first four years of his life living at Knobs Flat in the Fiordland National Park where his father was a foreman for maintaining the Milford Road.

In 1956 the family moved further along the road into the Park to Cascade Creek where the family looked after what was then the Automobile Association camping grounds.

The grounds had been previously used a as a workers camp for the workers building the highway but after construction was completed AA took over the camp, he said.

In those early days he could remember his dad being involved with searches in the Park, Burnby said.

As soon as he was done with school he walked straight on to a fishing boat, he said.

Burnby left fishing in the mid eighties and went on to work several different jobs around the country for a several years.

He returned to Te Anau to spend time with his parents, bringing with him a sewing machine, which he used to set up the materials business that he still runs today.

Soon after his return he tried to join search and rescue but at the time they were not interested, telling him there was nothing for him, Burnby said.

However, that changed when he became involved with the ambulance service and his skills as a medic were called on by search and rescue when needed.

His involvement with the ambulance came totally by chance after he was sent along to a first aid course with staff from the Fiordland Kindergarten where he was chairman.

"The staff needed their first aid ticket and they were short on numbers, so I jumped on the course with the staff."

The instructor asked Burnby if he was interested in joining as they were short on volunteers, and he said yes.

There are 11 Search and rescue groups south of the Waitaki River including four specialist groups.

The groups meet regularly to compare notes, talk over strategy and how they can improve the service, Burnby said.

After all his years' involvement, Burnby still loves the work.

"It still gets me out in the bush into different places meeting people."

He has seen many changes in Fiordland, the most prominent being the considerable growth in tourist numbers.

The main tramping tracks like the Routeburn, Kepler and Milford were oversubscribed, Burnby said.

"A lot of backpackers are heading off to look at other options."

People heading to tracks such as the U pass, Dore Pass or Gertrude Saddle were starting to create problems, as the tracks were not well marked so people without high level back country skills and experience were at risk, he said.

The FiordLand Search and Rescue Group had about 45 members on its books with several younger members, mostly local lads who were keen hunters and country kids, coming into the organisation.

Among the changes the organisation had experienced was a move from analogue systems to digital, Burnby said.

The growing popularity of personal locator beacons had also meant there were fewer operations as a helicopter could pick people up within hours of the beacon being activated, Burnby said.

However even with the help of helicopters, there was still the need for some old fashioned foot work, he said.

"There are still the times we go back to the good old days of foot slogging."