Michael Batson

Milford Sound lies in Southwest New Zealand in the Fiordland National Park, the largest and fourth oldest of the country’s 13 national parks, the fifth largest park of its kind in the world  and part of the Te Wāhipounamu (Greenstone) World Heritage Site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey, and referred to as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling once called it the Eighth Wonder of the World. If New Zealand still had the Pink and White Terraces, long since disappeared in volcanic eruption, Milford Sound might just be the ninth wonder. Every year about one million visitors see it up front and in person. Most come by car or by bus, some fly and some by sea, and about 14,000 people take three days just for the privilege of walking there. Milford Sound is a paradox, for while it attracts streams of visitors it is located in an area with some of the most remote coastline, in one of the world's most remote countries. The Māori named the sound Piopiotahi after the thrush-like piopio bird, one of some 53 bird species now extinct since people first reached New Zealand 1000 years ago. For centuries Māori came from near and far for hunting and fishing, and also the pounamu or greenstone (jade) used for carvings and in war. John Grono, a Welshman, “discovered” the sound in 1812 whilst on sealing expeditions, often taking 10,000 skims at a time. Milford Sound is in fact not a sound at all, but a fjord