General location Milford Sound is about 2 hours down SH94 from Te Anau, which is itself about 2 hours from Queenstown, 3 hours from Invercargill and 4 hours from Dunedin. It's also got a mini airfield, if you're rich enough to afford a scenic flight.

Specific location Of the two permanent waterfalls in the fjord, Bowen and Stirling Falls, Bowen is located just a few dozen meters from the cruise terminal on the other side of a rocky promontory, while Stirling is about 8km further down. The ephemeral waterfalls are... uh... everywhere. If they're flowing, you'll notice them.

Independent access None, unless you're willing to bring your own boat. This is not a good place for exploration.

 

If you have the slightest interest in waterfalls, at some point you are going to end up at Milford Sound. And if you are a serious waterfall collector you will likely find the experience more frustrating than thrilling. Milford Sound is—of course—severely commercialised, full of tourists and exhaust belching buses and piped audio commentary from tour guides, but the beauty of the surroundings is so striking that that in itself could be forgiven. The problem is more that there is no way to explore Milford Sound. Regardless of the activities one chooses while there, what one actually will see is entirely up to the whims of tour operators. One cannot, for instance, sit in front of the Bowen Falls and wait to photograph it until the lighting conditions are right. One can only see it from a moving boat for half a minute or so, generally whilst being told something about the fjord that one has already read in a leaflet picked up from the visitor centre.

 

That is, probably, enough negativity. It is nonetheless an experience not to be missed, whether or not that experience leaves you with any desire to repeat it.

 

The first waterfall encountered in the fjord is the Bowen Falls, claimed to stand 162m/531ft. It looks smaller than that, but I suppose almost anything would when surrounded by 1600m+ mountains rising straight out of the sea. It is sustained by a small glacier and is therefore the highest volume waterfall in the area; also possibly the best looking (in normal flows), graceful and convex.

 

On the north side of the fjord, there are several ephemeral waterfalls around Cascade Peak near Harrison Cove, and then the Stirling Falls, 151m/495ft. This one drops directly into the sea so I suppose there is no real way to get close other than the cruise boats, which do take you right up to it for a soaking. Further on is the Disappearing Falls, frequently blown away by the wind (our guide also called it the "Viagra Falls" because it spends "more time up than down"—his words, not mine) and the Palisade Falls, visible in tandem with it. These waterfalls drop off the side of a mountain called The Elephant, I think. They only flow after rain but are pretty impressive when they do.

 

On the south side of the fjord, the Four Sisters are four tall plunges, collected from water cascading off Mitre Peak, the iconic mountain of the fjord. They don't last very long once the rain's over. The Fairy and Bridal Veil Falls a little further on last somewhat longer, 3-4 days without rain. Fairy Falls was cited as being 70m/230ft, and when it's in flood, as with Stirling Falls the boats will go right up to it.

 

I spent two days in the area, so have photos of Bowen Falls in normal flows. It rained overnight (about 60 mm) and was still raining the next day which is when the rest of these photos date from. Flows do get a fair bit higher if it rains for several days in succession. However, since Fiordland is basically all rocks with trees on top of them, the water just gets dumped straight into the sea and the ephemeral waterfalls dry up very quickly.