The writer Rudyard Kipling once called Milford Sound the Eighth
Wonder of the World and today the 500,000 visitors that tour
this fiord located in the Fiordland National Park and Te
Wahipounamu World Heritage site would probably agree. One of 14
fiords in the region, the lofty cliffs are spectacular, rising
almost vertically from the opaque waters that run some nine
miles inland to the Tasman Sea. Carved in the ice ages, the
walls rise up to 1,219 metres (4000 feet) from the water with
waterfalls spectacularly cascading from the top and rainfall of
up to 7 metres (23 feet) per year. The rainfall results in a
permanent layer of freshwater on the surface of the water while
below this the water has a reddish-brown tinge due to runoff of
material from the surrounding forest. The amount of rainfall
also means that two waterfalls are permanent, Lady Bowen Falls
and Stirling Falls, but this number increases rapidly after a
good downpour. The Māori name for Milford Sound is Piopiotahi
and Māori settlements were locat