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Milford Sound
Milford Sound
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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 had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the
World.
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 Māori named the sound Piopiotahi after the thrush-like
piopio bird, now extinct. Piopiotahi means "a single piopio",
harking back to the legend of Māui trying to win immortality for
mankind—when Maui died in the attempt, a piopio was said to have
flown here in mourning. |
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Seals, penguins, and southernmost population of bottlenose dolphins
frequent the waters, and whales especially humpback whales and
southern right whales are increasingly observed due to recoveries of
each species.The sound has been identified as an Important Bird Area
by BirdLife International because it is a breeding site for
Fiordland penguins.
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.
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. Milford Sound is also a scenic cruise destination for cruise
ships.
Getting
There
By road, Milford Sound is
291 km (181 mi) from Queenstown and 278 km (173 mi) 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 (75 mi) 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 (0.75 mi) 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 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 to be out of the running
after the DOC declined approval for environmental reasons, the
tunnel and the monorail proposals have applied to the Department of
Conservation for concessions for land access.
There are a variety of plane charter companies that fly to Milford
Sound. Most of the companies fly out of
Queenstown
International Airport. These companies include: True South
Flights, Glenorchy Air, Air Milford, and Milford Sound Scenic
Flights.
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