Milford Sound (, officially gazetted as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi) is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey (the 2008 Travelers' Choice Destinations Awards by TripAdvisor)Tour Guide: Milford Sound, New Zealand National Geographic Intelligent Travel Blog, 2 June 2008TripAdvisor 2008 Travelers' Choice Destinations Award Downloadable PDF file (email address required) and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination."Real Journeys rapt with Kiwi Must-Do's" , Scoop, 13 February 2007. Rudyard Kipling called it the eighth Wonder of the World."Milford Sound, South Island, New Zealand" . From the National Geographic Photo Galleries. Accessed 20 October 2007. The fiord is most commonly accessed via road (State Highway 94) by tour coach, with the road terminating at a small village also called Milford Sound.
Etymology Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is one of roughly 90 places to have been given a dual name as part of a 1998 Treaty of Waitangi settlement with Ngāi Tahu, recognising the significance of the fiord to both Māori and Pākehā New Zealanders. This name consists of both the Māori name and the former official name used together as a single name, instead of as interchangeable alternate names.
In te reo Māori, the fiord is known as Piopiotahi after the now extinct piopio, a thrush-like bird that used to inhabit New Zealand. According to the Māori legend of Māui trying to win immortality for humanity, a single piopio flew to the fiord in mourning following Māui's death. The name Piopiotahi refers to this bird, with tahi meaning 'one' in Māori. The fiord was given its European name in 1823, when the sealer John Grono named it Milford Sound after Milford Haven in his birthplace of Wales. The Cleddau River, which flows into the fiord, was also named for its Welsh namesake.
Geography As a fiord, Milford Sound was formed by glaciation over millions of years. The village at the end of the fiord is also known as Milford Sound.
Milford Sound runs inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point (also named after a location close to Milford Haven in Wales)—the mouth of the fiord—and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise or more on either side. Among the peaks are The Elephant at , said to resemble an elephant's head,The Elephant (from the mitrepeak.com cruise website) and The Lion, , in the shape of a crouching lion.Lion Mountain (from the mitrepeak.com cruise website)
Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls.Milford Sound , Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966, updated 22 April 9 After heavy rain temporary waterfalls can be seen running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord. They are fed by rainwater-drenched moss and will last a few days once the rain stops.
Climate With a mean annual rainfall of each year, a high level even for the West Coast, Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Rainfall can reach during 24 hours. The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls (as well as several major, more permanent ones) cascading down the cliff faces, some reaching a thousand metres in length. Smaller falls from such heights may never reach the bottom of the sound, drifting away in the wind.
Accumulated rainwater can sometimes cause portions of the rainforest to lose their grip on sheer cliff faces, resulting in tree avalanches into the fiord—the regrowth of the rainforest after these avalanches can be seen in several locations along the sound.
Wildlife
Milford Sound is home to a variety of marine mammals, including seals and the southernmost wild population of bottlenose dolphins. Whales, especially the humpback and southern right whales, are increasingly observed due to the recoveries of each species. Penguins are also common within the sound, which is a breeding site for the Fiordland penguin and has subsequently been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Milford Sound. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 18 February 2012.
As a result of Milford Sound's high rainfall and the density of saltwater, the surface of Milford Sound is a layer of freshwater containing tannins from the surrounding rainforest. This filters much of the sunlight which enters the water, allowing for a variety of Black coral to be found at depths of as shallow as , significantly closer to the surface than usual.
History
European explorers initially overlooked Milford Sound because its narrow entry did not appear to lead into such large interior bays. Sailing ship captains such as James Cook, who bypassed Milford Sound on his journeys for just this reason, also feared venturing too close to the steep mountainsides, afraid that wind conditions would prevent escape.
The fiord was known to local Māori who had acquired a large amount of local marine knowledge, including tidal patterns and fish feeding patterns over generations before European arrival. A pounamu outcrop used for tools by the Māori is reportedly on one side or other of the fiord at Anita Bay but the stone was found to be inferior quality when later first mined by Europeans. The fiord remained unnoticed by Europeans until Captain John Grono discovered it and named it Milford Haven after his homeland in Wales. Captain John Lort Stokes later renamed Milford Haven as Milford Sound.Terry Hearn. Welsh – Milford Sound , Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry of Culture and Heritage. Updated 4 March 2009. Accessed 3 February 2010. In the deed of sale to the New Zealand Company in 1848, Milford Sound was misnamed as Whakatipu Waiti (or Whakatipa Waita on the deeds map), which was corrected in the purchase deed for Southland to Piopiotahi. Piopiotahi also refers to a torrent going into the fiord. Following the passage of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the name of the fiord was officially altered to Milford Sound / Piopiotahi.
While Fiordland as such remained one of the least-explored areas of New Zealand up to the 20th century, Milford Sound's natural beauty soon attracted national and international renown, and led to the discovery of the McKinnon Pass in 1888, soon to become a part of the new Milford Track, an early walking tourism trail. In the same year, the low watershed saddle between the Hollyford River and the Cleddau River was discovered. Sixty years later, this became the location for the Homer Tunnel, providing road access.Fiordland (from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Accessed 6 February 2008.)
As of the 2006 census, 120 people lived in Milford Sound, most of them working in tourism or conservation.
Tourism
Overview Milford Sound attracts between 550,000 and 1 million visitors per year."Over and Under: Linking Queenstown and Milford Sound". e.nz magazine, IPENZ, May/June 2007 This makes the sound one of New Zealand's most-visited tourist spots even with its remote location and long journey times from the nearest population centres. Many tourists take one of the boat tours, which usually last one to two hours. They are offered by several companies, departing from the Milford Sound Visitors' Centre.
Tramping, canoeing, and some other water sports are possible. A small number of companies also provide overnight boat trips. There is otherwise only limited accommodation at the sound, and only a tiny percentage of tourists stay more than one day. Tourists usually stay in Te Anau or Queenstown.
The Milford Discovery Centre & Underwater Observatory is located in Harrison's Cove on the north side of the fiord. Situated within the Piopiotahi Marine Reserve, the underwater observatory allows visitors to view the fiord's unique marine environment at a depth of . Due to a natural phenomenon called 'deep water emergence,' deep-water animals such as black coral can be viewed in the shallow waters surrounding the observatory.Erika Delemarre, Milford Discovery Centre nature guide, tour presentation material 2014–2015. A dark surface layer of fresh water, stained brown by tannins from the surrounding forest, along with cold water temperatures, allows the black corals to grow close to the surface throughout Milford Sound and Fiordland.Paddy Ryan. "Fiords – Underwater rock walls and basins ", Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 21 September 2007. Accessed 18 April 2008.
Milford Sound is also a destination for cruise ships.
In 2025 the Minister for Conservation announced a proposal to charge international visitors a fee to access some of New Zealand's National Parks including Milford Sound. Under this proposed scheme, foreign visitors would be required to pay between NZ$20 (€10) and NZ$40 (€20) to access some natural landmarks. The proposal is estimated to generate up to NZ$62 million per year, to be invested in conservation sites throughout New Zealand. The proposed changes are not expected to come into effect until at least summer 2027.
Transport
By road, Milford Sound is from Queenstown and from Invercargill (about four hours' drive), with most of the tour buses to the sound departing from Queenstown. Some tourists also arrive from the smaller tourism centre of Te Anau, away. There are also scenic flights by light aircraft and helicopter tours to and from Milford Sound Airport. The drive to Milford Sound itself passes through unspoiled mountain landscapes before entering the Homer Tunnel which emerges into rain-forest-carpeted canyons that descend to the sound. The winding mountain road, while of high standards, is very prone to avalanches and closures during the winter half of the year.
The long distance to the sound means that tourist operators from Queenstown all depart very early in the day, arriving back only late in the evening. This means most tourists visit Milford Sound within a few hours of midday, leading to congestion on roads and at tourist facilities during the primary season. The peak-time demand is also why a large number of tour boats are active in the sound at about the same time.
Over the years, various options for shortening the distance to Milford Sound from Queenstown have been mooted, including a gondola route, a new tunnel from Queenstown, or a monorail from near Lake Wakatipu to Te Anau Downs. All would reduce the current round-trip duration (which has to travel via Te Anau), thus allowing tourism to be spread out over more of the day. While a gondola is considered out of the running after the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) declined approval for environmental reasons, the tunnel and the monorail proposals have applied to the DOC for concessions for land access.
Several charter companies fly to Milford Sound. Most of the companies fly out of Queenstown International Airport.
Diesel spill
On 8 February 2004, a spill of of diesel fuel was discovered, resulting in a 2-kilometre-long stretch that was closed for 2 days while intensive cleanup activities were completed. A hose was apparently used to displace the fuel from the tanks of one of the tour vessels. Various government officials claimed it appeared to be an act of ecoterrorism motivated by rising numbers of tourists to the park,"Police probe Milford diesel spill 'terrorism, New Zealand Herald, 10 February 2004 though more details did not become known.
Landslide hazard