At the other end of the world.
The Milford Sound is a fjord on the South Island of New Zealand. The 14 km long water is one of the most famous tourist attractions of the country and, as it is part of the Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the island, it belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the region is registered since 1990 under the name Te Wahipounamu.
The British writer and poet Rudyard Kipling is said to have described the fjord as the eighth wonder of the world after visiting Milford Sound in the 1890s.
Long before the first European settlers found their way to the shores of Milford Sound, Māori came fishing, hunting and to find the coveted Pounamu (Jade). They believed in the creation of the fjord by Tu-te-raki-whanoa, a divine being.
After the discovery of the fjord by the first European, John Grono, in 1823, it took 56 years for the first settler to settle on the shores of Milford Sound. It was Donald Sutherland, a Scottish-born immigrant, who settled at Sound in 1879 and created a hostel there with his wife Elizabeth in 1891, providing accommodation for tourists and hikers. After their death in 1928, the hostel was replaced by a hostel built by the government.
From 1935 the construction of the Homer Tunnel began, which could only be opened in 1954. Through the tunnel it was possible for the first time to reach the Milford Sound via a road connection.
Musically one reaches the Milford Sound via the composer Roger Derongé and his composition of the same name Milford Sound. For Harmonie, Fanfare or BrassBand released.
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