Milford Sound / Piopiotahi

Welcome to one of the most breathtaking corners of the Earth. You are standing at the edge of Milford Sound, or as the native Māori people have called it for centuries, Piopiotahi. Take a deep breath of that crisp, damp air and look toward the towering granite peaks that seem to rise straight out of the dark water. This place is so extraordinary that the writer Rudyard Kipling once famously dubbed it the eighth wonder of the world. As you begin your journey, imagine the scale: some of these cliffs reach over one thousand two hundred meters high. The name Piopiotahi roughly translates to 'a single thrush,' referencing a Māori legend about a bird that flew here to mourn the hero Māui after he failed to win immortality for humanity. Today, you are following in the footsteps of explorers and ancestors alike in a place where the power of nature is displayed in its most raw and majestic form.