Milford Sound
Encyclopedia
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
) is a fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
in the south west of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
, within Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest of the 14 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of 12,500 km², and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site...
, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve
Fiordland's marine reserves
There are ten marine reserves in Fiordland region of New Zealand's South Island. They protect a wide variety of species and habitats. The original two reserves were established at the request of New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen in 1993...
, and the Te Wahipounamu
Te Wahipounamu
Te Wāhipounamu is a World Heritage site in the south west corner of the South Island of New Zealand.Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990 and covering 26,000 km², the site incorporates several National Parks:...
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) and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World
Eighth Wonder of the World
Eighth Wonder of the World is a term sometimes used to describe things in comparison to the Seven Wonders of the World, the widely-known list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity.-Natural places:...
.
Etymology
Milford Sound is named after Milford HavenMilford Haven (harbour)
Milford Haven Waterway is a natural harbour in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The Haven is a ria or drowned valley flooded at the end of the last Ice Age. formed by the Pembroke River and the Daugleddau estuary, and winds west to the sea...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, while the Cleddau River
Cleddau River
The Cleddau River is a river of New Zealand. It flows into the head of Milford Sound-References:* - Search for Place Names...
which flows into the sound is also named for its Welsh namesake
River Cleddau
The River Cleddau consists of the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. They unite to form the Daugleddau estuary, which forms the important harbour of Milford Haven....
. The Māori named the sound Piopiotahi after the thrush-like piopio
South Island Piopio
The South Island Piopio, Turnagra capensis, also known as the New Zealand Thrush, was a passerine bird of the Turnagridae family, found only in New Zealand.-Taxonomy:...
bird, now extinct. Piopiotahi means "a single piopio", harking back to the legend of Māui
Maui (Maori mythology)
In Māori mythology, Māui is a culture hero famous for his exploits and his trickery.-Māui's birth:The offspring of Tū increased and multiplied and did not know death until the generation of Māui-tikitiki . Māui is the son of Taranga, the wife of Makeatutara...
trying to win immortality for mankind - when Maui died in the attempt, a piopio was said to have flown here in mourning.
Geography
Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman SeaTasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
at Dale Point - the mouth of the fiord - and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1200 metres (3,937 ft) or more on either side. Among the peaks are The Elephant at 1517 metres (4,977 ft), said to resemble an elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
's head, and The Lion, 1302 metres (4,271.7 ft), in the shape of a crouching lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
. Lush rain forests cling precariously to these cliffs, while seals
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
, penguins, and dolphins frequent the waters and whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
s can be seen sometimes.
Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls all year round, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls. After heavy rain however, many hundreds of temporary waterfalls can be seen running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord. They are fed by rain water drenched moss and will last a few days at most once the rain stops.
Climate
With a mean annual rainfall of 6813 mm (268 in) on 182 days a year, a high level even for the West CoastWest Coast, New Zealand
The West Coast is one of the administrative regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island, and is one of the more remote and most sparsely populated areas of the country. It is made up of three districts: Buller, Grey and Westland...
, Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Rainfall can reach 250 mm (10 in) during a span of 24 hours. The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls (as well as a number of 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, at times, cause portions of the rain forest to lose their grip on the sheer cliff faces, resulting in tree avalanches into the sound. The regrowth of the rain forest after these avalanches can be seen in several locations along the sound.
History
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
, 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 (this refers to Doubtful Sound, so named as Cook thought it doubtful he would escape if he sailed in).
The fjord was a playground for local Maori who had acquired a large amount of local marine knowledge including tidal patterns and fish feeding patterns over generations prior to european arrival.
The fjord remained undiscovered by Europeans until a sealer by the name of Captain John Grono
John Grono
John Grono was a settler, sailor, ship builder, ship captain, sealer, whaler and farmer who migrated to Australia in 1799 from Wales...
discovered it in around 1812 and named it Milford Haven after his homeland in Wales. Captain John Lort Stokes
John Lort Stokes
Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN was an officer in the Royal Navy who travelled on HMS Beagle for close to eighteen years.Stokes grew up in Scotchwell near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He joined the Navy on 20 September 1824...
later renamed Milford Haven as Milford Sound.
While Fiordland
Fiordland
Fiordland is a geographic region of New Zealand that is situated on the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western-most third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys...
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 Mackinnon Pass
Mackinnon Pass
Mackinnon Pass is the highest point on the Milford Track between Lake Te Anau and the Arthur Valley in Fiordland National Park, which is in the Southland Region of New Zealand....
in 1888, soon to become a part of the new Milford Track
Milford Track
The Milford Track is a widely known tramping route in New Zealand – located amidst mountains and temperate rain forest in Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the South Island....
, an early walking tourism trail. In the same year, the low watershed saddle between the Hollyford River
Hollyford River
The Hollyford River is located in the southwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It runs for eighty miles in Fiordland, its source being ten kilometres to the north of the northern tip of Lake Te Anau and close to the Homer Tunnel....
and the Cleddau River was discovered, where the Homer Tunnel
Homer Tunnel
The Homer Tunnel is a road tunnel in the Fiordland region of the South Island of New Zealand, opened in 1954. New Zealand State Highway 94 passes through the tunnel, linking Milford Sound to Te Anau and Queenstown, by piercing the Main Divide at the Homer Saddle...
was to be developed about sixty years later to provide road access.
As of the 2006 census, just 120 people lived in Milford Sound, most of them working in tourism or conservation.
Tourism
Overview
The beauty of this landscape draws thousands of visitors each day, with between 550,000 and 1 million visitors in total per year. This makes the sound one of New Zealand's most-visited tourist spots, and also the most famous New Zealand tourist destination, even with its remote location and the long journey from the nearest population centres. Almost all tourists going to the sound also take one of the boat tours which usually last between 1–2 hours. They are offered by several companies, departing from the Milford Sound Visitors' Centre. There is also the option of extended overnight cruises on Milford Sound.Tramping
Backpacking (wilderness)
Backpacking combines the activities of hiking and camping for an overnight stay in backcountry wilderness...
, canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
and some other water sports are also possible. A small number of companies also provide overnight boat trips. There is otherwise only limited accommodation at the sound, and only a very small percentage of tourists stay more than the day.
An underwater tourist observatory found in one of the bays of the sound provides viewing of black coral
Black coral
Black corals are a group of deep water, tree-like corals related to sea anemones. They are also found in rare dark shallow water areas such as New Zealand's Milford Sound where they can be viewed from an underwater observatory. They normally occur in the tropics...
, usually only found in much deeper waters. A dark surface layer of fresh water, stained by tannins from the surrounding forest, allows the corals to grow close to the surface here.
In rainy and stormy days tourists can admire the play of the wind with the numerous waterfalls in Milford Sound. When meeting the cliff face the powerful wind often goes upward and waterfalls with a vertical drop get caught by wind, causing the water to go upwards.
Transport
By road, Milford Sound is 307 km from QueenstownQueenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....
and 279 km 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
Te Anau
Te Anau is a town in the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland. Lake Te Anau is the largest lake in the South Island and second only within New Zealand to Lake Taupo. The 2001 census recorded the town's population as 1,857...
, 121 km away. There are also scenic flights by light aircraft and helicopter tours to and from Milford Sound Airport
Milford Sound Airport
Milford Sound Airport is a small but very busy airport in Milford Sound, in New Zealands Fiordland region of the South Island...
. The drive to Milford Sound itself passes through unspoiled mountain landscapes before entering the 1.2 km Homer Tunnel
Homer Tunnel
The Homer Tunnel is a road tunnel in the Fiordland region of the South Island of New Zealand, opened in 1954. New Zealand State Highway 94 passes through the tunnel, linking Milford Sound to Te Anau and Queenstown, by piercing the Main Divide at the Homer Saddle...
which emerges into rain-forest-carpeted canyons that descend to the sound. The winding mountain road, while of high standards, is very prone to avalanche
Avalanche
An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...
s 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 ensures that most tourists visit Milford Sound within a few hours around midday, leading to some congestion on the roads and at the tourist facilities during the main season. The peak-time demand is also the reason for the large number of tour boats active in the sound at much the same time.
Over the years, various options of short-cutting 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
Lake Wakatipu
Lake Wakatipu is an inland lake in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of Otago Region, near its boundary with Southland.With a length of , it is New Zealand's longest lake, and, at , its third largest...
to Te Anau Downs. All would reduce the current round-trip duration (which has to travel via Te Anau
Te Anau
Te Anau is a town in the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland. Lake Te Anau is the largest lake in the South Island and second only within New Zealand to Lake Taupo. The 2001 census recorded the town's population as 1,857...
), thus allowing tourism to be spread out over more of the day. While a gondola is considered to be out of the running after the DOC
New Zealand Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation , commonly known by its acronym, "DOC", is the state sector organisation which deals with the conservation of New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage...
refused it for environmental reasons, the two other options are aiming to start consenting processes in 2007.
Miscellaneous
On 8 February 2004 a spill of 13,000 litres of diesel fuel was discovered, resulting in a 2-kilometre oil spillOil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
which closed the sound for two days while intensive cleanup activities were completed. Apparently a hose was used to displace the fuel from the tanks of one of the tour vessels, and various government officials claimed it appeared to be an act of ecoterrorism motivated by rising numbers of tourists to the park, though more details did not become known. The spill has been removed and damage to the park's wildlife appears to have been minimal.
See also
- Doubtful SoundDoubtful SoundDoubtful Sound is a very large and naturally imposing fjord in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. It is located in the same region as the smaller but more famous and accessible Milford Sound...
- FiordlandFiordlandFiordland is a geographic region of New Zealand that is situated on the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western-most third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys...
- Milford Sound AirportMilford Sound AirportMilford Sound Airport is a small but very busy airport in Milford Sound, in New Zealands Fiordland region of the South Island...
- Transport in Milford SoundTransport in Milford SoundTransport in Milford Sound, New Zealand, is characterised by the remoteness of the area in which it is located. As the most popular tourism destination in the South Island, it nonetheless receives very large numbers of visitors...
External links
- Milford Sound - Destination Fiordland (regional tourism organisation)
- Wondermondo, Flying waterfalls in Milford Sound
- http://www.linz.govt.nz/topography/topo-maps/map-chooser/singleview.php?xPos=1701&yPos=18809&scale=2&extent=7-CA08 Land Information NZ Site - for downloading the Milford Sound / Piopiotahi topographic map