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) and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling called it the eighth Wonder of the World. 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, and The Lion, , in the shape of a crouching lion.
Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls<!-- Q16507472 -->. 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
thumb|[[Bottlenose dolphins swim under a rainbow.]]
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.
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
thumb|right|Two swaggers boiling a billy of tea, Milford Sound by [[John Gibb (painter)|John H. Gibb, oil on canvas Christchurch 1886]]
thumb|right|The Stirling Falls were named after [[Frederick Stirling, Captain of .]]
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.
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.
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.
As of the 2006 census, 120 people lived in Milford Sound, most of them working in tourism or conservation.
Tourism
thumb|right|Cliffs and waterfalls after dry spell, with a two-storey tour boat providing relative size
thumb|right|[[Mitre Peak (New Zealand)|Mitre Peak, towering over Milford Sound]]
thumb|Waterfall at Milford Sound
Overview
Milford Sound attracts between 550,000 and 1 million visitors per year. 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. 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.
Milford Sound is also a destination for cruise ships.
In 2026, Milford Sound will become one of four natural attractions that will start charging entry fees for foreign tourists. Under the proposed scheme, foreign visitors will be required to pay between NZ$20 (€10) and NZ$40 (€20) to access the natural landmarks, generating up to €32 million to invest in natural sites.
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. though more details did not become known.
Landslide hazard
Since the glacier that formed the fiord melted about 16,000 years ago, at least 16 large landslips greater than in volume, have occurred at Milford Sound, and the potential for further landslips has risk significance due to the fiord's steep sides, confined waters, lack of realistic reaction time for evacuation and popularity as an international tourist destination. If a large landslip into the fiord occurs, likely triggered by an earthquake, it could create a large local tsunami, with a risk of potentially about 750 deaths if it occurred at peak tourist density in the middle of the day. Risk assessment has suggested 1-in-1000-year wave runup could be about arriving on shore within 2–7 minutes. There is a 75% probability in the next 50 years of a major Alpine Fault earthquake, and these have a 44% probability of generating a landslide-generated tsunami in the fiord. There is also the potential for significant trigger earthquakes associated with the Fiordland subduction-zone's Puysegur Trench to the south.