Milford Sound
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Milford Sound Māori: Piopiotahi |
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| Geographical location | ||
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| Coordinates | 44 ° 37 ′ S , 167 ° 52 ′ E | |
| Region ISO | NZ-STL | |
| Country : | New Zealand | |
| region | Southland | |
| Sea access | Tasman Sea | |
| Data about the sound | ||
| entrance | 957 m wide | |
| length | around 14 km | |
| width | Max. 2.92 km | |
| Coastline | around 36 km | |
| Water depth | Max. 320 m | |
| places | Milford Sound | |
| Tributaries | Arthur River , Cleddau River , Bowen River , Harrison River , numerous larger and smaller streams (brooks) | |
| Islands | an island off the Arthur River estuary | |
| Jetty | Milford Sound | |
| Photography of the sound | ||
 Milford Sound from the location Milford Sound as seen from |
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The Milford Sound ( Māori Piopiotahi ) is a fjord on the South Island of New Zealand . This 14 km long lake is part of one of the most famous tourist attractions of the country and because it of part of Fiordland National Park is in the southwest of the island, with the World Heritage of UNESCO , in the region under the name since 1990 Te Wahipounamu is registered.
British writer and poet Rudyard Kipling is believed to have called the fjord the eighth wonder of the world after visiting Milford Sound in the 1890s .
Origin of name
The Milford Sound was in 1823 by the Welsh settlers John Grono , who got to see the first European to the waters for a Inlet on the coast of Wales called Milford Haven named.
In the Māori language , the sound is referred to as piopiotahi , which means something like a single piopio , a songbird that was endemic in New Zealand and is already extinct.
geography
The Milford Sound is located at the southern part of the West Coast of the South Island, about 70 km north-west of Queenstown and 85 km north of Te Anau . The approximately 14 km long estuary extends from the end point of New Zealand State Highway 94 and the small town called Milford Sound in a north-westerly direction and, after its narrowest point, opens up to the Tasman Sea at around 960 m . If one also counts the funnel-shaped entrance to the fjord, the water would extend from its almost 3 km wide entrance over the narrow point to around 18 km in length.
The fjord, which is between 455 m and almost 3 km wide, comes at its deepest point to a depth of 320 m, from where the adjacent mountains are partly very steep, rising up to between 60 and 80 degrees, with Miter Peak reaching up to 1683 m height.
geology
The Milford Sound is in the classic sense a fjord that, like all fjords in the southwest of the South Island, was created on the one hand by glacier movements of the last glacial period and on the other hand was formed by the flooding of the valley by rising sea levels. The name sound came from the early European settlers and seafarers who called numerous valleys in the Fiordland region sounds , a name that is actually only used for river valleys flooded from the lake side, such as the sounds in the Marlborough Sounds in the north the south island. The seafarers, mostly of English or Welsh origin, did not know any fjords from their homeland and so they used the names they knew for the inlets, which were not later changed.
Geologically of importance for Milford Sound is the Alpine Fault located directly in front of the entrance to the Sound , a fault that was created when the Pacific Plate meets the Australian Plate and extends in a northeast-southwest direction along the west coast of the South Island. Due to the tectonic shifts, the New Zealand Alps were created, part of which is the Milford Sound with its mountains.
climate
The abundant rainfall throughout the year is typical for the southern part of the west coast of the South Island. Milford Sound is also known for its heavy rainfall. With winds mainly from the northwest and southeast, which is due to the topology of Milford Sound , and with wind speeds that are 10% over 30 km / h in the summer months and a good 35% higher in the winter months, it came from 1981 to 2010 an annual average of 6716 mm of precipitation, in the summer months of January and December with around 700 mm, a little more than in the other months. The lowest rainfall was recorded in July with an average of 424 mm of precipitation.
The average temperatures are 10 to 19 ° C in the summer months and 2 to 10 ° C in the winter months, with the maximum and minimum values measured being 28.3 ° C and -6.1 ° C, respectively. The 30-year average of sunshine in the region is 1,600 to 1,700 hours per year.
history
Long before the first European settlers found the banks of Milford Sound , Māori were fishing and looking for the coveted pounamu ( jade ). They believed in the creation of the fjord by Tu-te-raki-whanoa , a divine being.
After the fjord was discovered by the first European, John Grono , in 1823, it was 56 years before the first settler settled on the banks of Milford Sound . It was Donald Sutherland , a Scottish immigrant, who settled on the Sound in 1879 and, with his wife Elizabeth , created a hostel there in 1891 , which offered accommodation to tourists and hikers. After the two died in 1928, the hostel was replaced by a government-built hostel .
From 1935 onwards the construction of the Homer Tunnel began , which could not be opened until 1954. The tunnel made it possible for the first time to reach Milford Sound via a road connection.
water falls
In addition to its impressive mountain landscapes, Milford Sound is also known for its numerous, sometimes impressive, waterfalls. Probably the most famous waterfalls that are visited on every boat tour are the 151 m high Stirling Falls and the 162 m high Bowen Falls .
Underwater observatory
In Harrison Cove there is an observatory operated by the company Southern Discoveries , a subsidiary of the SKEGGS Group , which allows an insight into the underwater world of part of the Milford Sound 10 meters below sea level . The observatory can only be reached by ship.
Flora and fauna
The freshwater input into Milford Sound is particularly large due to the frequent and abundant rainfall. Since the fresh water has a lower density than the salt water that is brought into the fjord from the Tasman Sea, an approximately 10 m thick layer of fresh water forms in the water towards the water surface, which blocks the sunlight more strongly. This enables a life in the fjord that can only be found in the open sea from a depth of 70 m.
Around 60 different types of black corals , as well as types of the rare precious coral and the English called Bubblegum Coral (Paragorgia arborea), can be found in the water . In Milford Sound estimated seven million live coral colonies.
Among the animals, seals, penguins, ducks and dolphins in particular can be observed in the fjord. Around 60 Tursiops , called Bottlenose Dolphin in English , live in the waters of Milford Sound . There are also numerous seals who like to sunbathe on a rock called Seal Rock in the western third of the fjord, much to the delight of the many tourists who come by ship. In addition to the little penguins , colonies of the northern beaked duck, called Blue Duck in New Zealand , also live in the fjord.
Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve
In 1993, at the request of the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen (Association of Commercial Fishermen ), the northern to eastern part of Milford Sound was declared a marine reserve. The boundary was drawn from Dale Point at the entrance of the fjord, running almost in the middle of the water to the western tip of the headland on which the runway is located. The Freshwater Basin is no longer one of them. The so designated marine reserve has a size of 690 hectares. The area has been designated because it with its reefs and steep walls u. a. Corals , sponges , annelids , anemones and lobsters offer ideal habitat.
Infrastructure
Road traffic
The Milford Sound is by car or by bus from Te Anau over the New Zealand State Highway 94 to get to. After about 120 km journey, which leads along Lake Te Anau and through the valley of the Eglinton River with its lakes Lake Gunn and Lake Fergus , then runs along the southern part of the Darran Mountains with the crossing of the Homer Tunnel and finally from the Cleddau River to Milford Sound , the trip ends in the small settlement of Milford Sound , from where the tourist boats start their tour of the fjord. The journey on the route takes around 2 1/2 hours without intermediate stops. Since there are no refueling facilities on the route, travelers are requested to provide their vehicle with sufficient fuel before starting their journey.
Shipping
In addition to the companies that offer their boat tours for tourists through the fjord from the pier in Milford Sound , large cruise ships also occasionally come into the water. The largest cruise ship that has ever sailed Milford Sound was the 348 m long Ovation of the Seas , which entered the narrow fjord on December 21, 2016, with over 4900 passengers on board.
Air traffic
The Milford Sound is on the Milford Sound Piopiotahi Aerodrome also be reached from the air. The Ministry of Transport manages the airfield and its facilities. Most of the flights from the airfield are flights with tourists.
Hiking route
There is a walking route to Milford Sound , the 53.5 km Milford Track . The route, which can only be hiked in one direction, requires good conditions and trekking experience. The hike takes four days and must be booked in advance. The entrance to the Milford Track is located in the confluence of the Clinton River with Lake Te Anau at Glade House and ends at Sandfly Point at the confluence of the Arthur River with Milford Sound .
Sabotage
In February 2004, a high-pressure hose was inserted into the tank of one of the Real Journey ships by a stranger and the ship's diesel was fed from the tank into the water. In this way, around 13,000 liters of diesel fuel poured into the Fresh Basin of Milford Sound . Much of the diesel was later collected and disposed of by Environment Southland officials , but some of the fuel was able to reach Harrison Cove , where the underwater observatory is located. Rain and strong winds contributed to the fact that the fuel diluted and could be biodegraded by nature. No consequential damage in nature could be determined. The police suspect ecoterrorists to be behind the crime.
See also
literature
- Bryce Leslie Wood : Milford Sound . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed February 28, 2018]).
- RH Clark, HW Wellmann : The Alpine Fault from Lake McKerrow to Milford Sound . In: New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics . Volume 2, Issue 3 . Royal Society of New Zealand , 1959, pp. 590-601 , doi : 10.1080 / 00288306.1959.10423162 (English).
- WA Nelson et al. w. : Marine Macroalgae of Fiordland, New Zealand . In: Tuhinga . Te Papa Museum of New Zealand , 2002 (English, online [PDF; 3.8 MB ; accessed on February 26, 2018]).
- GR Macara : The Climate and Weather of Southland . In: NIWA Science and Technologies Series . 2nd Edition. Number 63 . National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research , 2013, ISSN 1173-0382 (English, online [PDF; 2.9 MB ; accessed on July 21, 2016]).
Web links
- About Milford Sound . InterCity Group (NZ), 2017,accessed on February 26, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ^ Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand . In: UNESCO World Heritage Center . United Nations , 1990, accessed February 26, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Chris Moss : Milford Sound, New Zealand: Trip of a Lifetime . In: The Telegraph . The Telegraph Media Group , October 8, 2015 ( online [accessed February 26, 2018]).
- ↑ a b Milford Sound History . InterCity Group (NZ) , 2017, accessed on February 26, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Topo250 maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed February 26, 2018 .
- ↑ Coordinates and longitudes were partly made using Google Earth Version 7.1.8.3036 on February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Nelson et al. w. : Marine Macroalgae of Fiordland, New Zealand . 2002, p. 119 .
- ^ Clark, Wellmann : The Alpine Fault from Lake McKerrow to Milford Sound . 1959, p. 597 f .
- ^ A b Milford Sound & Doubtful Sound . (PDF 1.1 MB) Destination Fiordland , November 2016, accessed on May 2, 2019 .
- ^ Section C The Marlborough Costal Environment . (PDF 3.98 MB) Marlborough District Council , June 2014, p. 34 , accessed on August 31, 2019 .
- ^ Clark, Wellmann : The Alpine Fault from Lake McKerrow to Milford Sound . 1959, p. 593 ff .
- ↑ Macara : The Climate and Weather of Southland . 2013, p. 13, 14, 16, 25, 27 .
- ↑ a b c Milford Sound History . InterCity Group (NZ) , accessed February 28, 2018 .
- ^ Sutherland Falls 'discovered' . New Zealand History , October 16, 2014, accessed January 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Milford Sound Underwater Observatory . Southern Discoveries , accessed February 28, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Milford Sound Wildlife . InterCity Group (NZ) , accessed February 28, 2018 .
- ^ Fiordland Marine ( Te Moana a Atawhenua ) Reserves . (PDF 2.0 MB) Department of Conservation , 2010, accessed on March 1, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Te Anau - Milford Highway . (PDF 1.93 MB) Department of Conservation , November 2015, accessed on May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Mega-cruise ship visits Milford Sound . In: Otago Daily Times . Allied Press Limited , December 21, 2016, accessed February 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Milford Sound Piopiotahi Aerodrome . Ministry of Transport , accessed February 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Milford Track . (PDF 11.753 MB) Department of Conservation , May 2017, accessed on February 27, 2018 .
- ^ Anne Beston : Police probe Milford diesel spill 'terrorism' . In: New Zealand Herald . NZME. Publishing , February 10, 2004, accessed February 27, 2018 .