New
7 Natural Wonders of the World
New Seven Wonders of Nature-One
of 28 nominees. Winners will be announced in 2011.
Milford Sound (Piopiotahi
in Maori) is a fjord in the south
west of New Zealand's South Island,
within Fiordland National Park and
the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage
site. It has been judged the world's
top travel destination in an international
survey, and is acclaimed as New Zealand's
most famous tourist destination. Rudyard
Kipling had previously called it the
eighth Wonder of the World.
Etymology
Milford Sound is named after Milford
Haven in Wales, while the Cleddau
River which flows into the sound is
also named for its Welsh namesake.
The Maori named the sound Piopiotahi
after the thrush-like piopio bird,
now extinct. Piopiotahi means "a
single piopio", harking back
to the legend of Maui 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 Sea and is surrounded
by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200
metres (3,900 ft) or more on either
side. Among the peaks are The Elephant
at 1,517 metres (4,980 ft), said to
resemble an elephant's head, and Lion
Mountain, 1,302 metres (4,270 ft),
in the shape of a crouching lion.
Lush rain forests cling precariously
to these cliffs, while seals, penguins,
and dolphins frequent the waters.
Climate
With a mean annual rainfall of 6,813
mm on 182 days a 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 250 mm 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
The 155m Stirling Falls were named
after the captain of the HMS Cleo.Milford
Sound was initially overlooked by
European explorers, 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.
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, where
the Homer Tunnel was to be developed
about sixty years later to provide
road access.
Tourism
The beauty of this landscape draws
thousands of visitors each day, with
over 550,000 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, canoeing and
some other water sports are also possible.
A small number of companies also provides
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, 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.
Transport
By road, Milford Sound is 295 km from
Queenstown 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, 121 km 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 1.2 km 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 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 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
to be out of the running after the
DOC refused it for environmental reasons,
the two other options are aiming to
start consenting processes in 2007.[2]
Milford Sound, including
the coach trip from TeAnau, is everything
people said it would be.
