Milfordsound is the 8th wonder of the world which is a UNESCO heritage site

The history of Milford Sound began long ago, when all of New Zealand was still pristine forests and mountains, rivers and seas. Māori people living on the South Island discovered Milford Sound more than 1,000 years ago. Tribesmen would travel there to fish and hunt in the surrounding fjords, and to collect valuable pounamu. This journey from the east used traditional routes across passes, including what is now known as MacKinnon Pass on the Milford Track.

In Māori legend, Milford Sound was formed by Tu-te-raki-whanoa. He was an atua (pious figure) tasked with shaping the coast of Fiordland. While chanting a powerful karakia (prayer), he slashed the towering stone walls with a toki (adze) called Te Hamo and carved them out of the ground.

The Māori name for Milford Sound, Piopiotahi, means “one piopio”. When the legendary hero Maui died trying to win immortality for his loved ones, a piopio (a long-extinct native bird) supposedly flew here to mourn.

Early European settlers did not explore Milford Sound by boat, not realizing that within its narrow entrance lay such a beautiful region to explore. In fact, it is so hidden that the famous explorer Captain Cook managed to pass through the fiord's entrance twice!

In 1823, a sealer named John Grono was the first European settler to visit. He named it Milford Sound after Milford Haven, a long narrow inlet on the Welsh coast.

Later that century, a Scot named Donald Sutherland became the first permanent resident of Milford Sound. Sutherland led an interesting life, spending time in the army, as a sealer and prospector. In 1877 he left everything behind and sailed along the Fiordland coastline, accompanied only by his dog. When he reached Milford Sound, he decided to stay.

Sutherland chose a residence near what is now called Lady Bowen Falls. Although he lived as a hermit for many years, he envisioned a thriving 'Milford City'. He also discovered Sutherland Falls which was named after him. In 1890 he married and his wife Elizabeth joined him at Milford Sound.

Together, the Sutherlands built the first hotel in Milford Sound, to accommodate the increasing number of walkers arriving there via what is now called the Milford Track. After Donald died in 1919, Elizabeth sold the hotel to the government.

More and more hikers arrived, and stories of the region's unspoiled beauty began to spread. British writer Rudyard Kipling visited in the 1890s and declared Milford Sound the 'eighth wonder of the world'.

From 1935, workers began building the Homer Tunnel, drilling through solid rock from the Hollyford Valley to the Cleddau Valley. The work is hard and the conditions are difficult, but they persevere. The tunnel finally opened in 1954, allowing road access to Milford Sound, and visitors began flocking there to see it for themselves.

In 1990 Milford Sound, along with the rest of Fiordland and three other national parks, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today Milford Sound is New Zealand's most famous tourist destination and often tops lists of the most beautiful places in the world. You can visit Milford Sound on a day tour and enjoy its stunning views on a fjord cruise.

As a fjord, Milford Sound was formed through a glaciation process over millions of years. The village at the end of the fjord is also known as Milford Sound.

Milford Sound stretches 15 kilometers inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point (also named after a location close to Milford Haven in Wales)—the mouth of the fjord—and is surrounded by sheer rock faces rising to a height of 1,200 meters or more on both sides. Among the peaks are The Elephant, 1,517 meters high, said to resemble an elephant's head, and The Lion, 1,302 meters, in the shape of a crouching lion.

Milford Sound has two permanent waterfalls, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls. After heavy rains, temporary waterfalls can be seen cascading down the steep rock faces lining the fiord. They are fed by rain-soaked moss and will survive for at most a few days after the rain stops.

Milford Sound has a unique water composition in which the top 10 meters of water surface are fresh (as is the volume of rainfall) and colored with tannins from vegetation, creating a reflective surface that stops light from penetrating into the deep sea water below.

Crystals and granite make up the main rock types in Milford Sound. This type of hard rock withstands the powerful carving movements of glaciers to form towering fiord walls and cascading waterfalls. Milford Sound Piopiotahi is also home to deposits of bowenite rock, known to Māori as tangiwai, a lighter version of the famous greenstone or pounam.

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