Milford Sound

On the southwest coast of the South Island is one of New Zealand's scenic jewels, Milford Sound. Its characteristic landscape is familiar from many photographs: in the foreground lush vegetation, beyond this the still blue waters of the fjord and as a backdrop the massive pyramid of Mitre Peak.

Among the first Europeans to see this magnificent landscape was Captain Stokes, who put into the sound in the survey ship HMS Acheron in 1851. He anchored near the Bowen Falls and named the mountain towering above the bay (1692m) Mitre Peak, from its resemblance to a bishop's miter.

Milford Sound extends inland for 15km from its narrow mouth on the Tasman Sea and the high hills that enclose it rise steeply. Rainfall is high at an annual 6000 mm.