The Mw 7.2 Fiordland earthquake of August 21 2003 was the largest shallow earthquake to occur in New Zealand for 35 years. Because of its location in an unpopulated area, it caused only minor damage to buildings, roads and infrastructure. It triggered numerous landslides on steep slopes in the epicentral region, where intensities reached MM9. Deployments of portable seismographs, strong motion recorders and GPS receivers in the epicentral region immediately after the event have established that the earthquake involved thrusting at the shallow part of the subduction interface between the Australian and Pacific plates. Recently installed strong motion recorders of the GeoNet network have ensured that the earthquake is New Zealand's best recorded subduction interface event. Microzonation effects are clear in some of the records. Current peak ground acceleration attenuation relationships for New Zealand subduction interface earthquakes underprediet the ground motions recorded during the earthquake, as was the case for previous large events in Fiordland in 1993 and 1989. The four portable strong motion recorders installed in the epicentral region have provided excellent near-field data on the larger aftershocks, with recorded peak ground accelerations ranging up to 0.28g from a nearby ML 6.1 event.