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 Arthur Valley
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Milford
Sound was incorrectly named as it is not actually a sound, rather a fiord.
A fiord is a valley which has been inundated by the sea, as the result of
a glacier eroding the valley floor in the past, below todays sea level. Milford
Sound is the most accessable of 14 fiords in the Fiordland National Park and
one of the most spectacular.
Boat trips on this fiord are available and will take you right out to the open sea and back again. The trip passes many waterfalls and you even get an opportunity to drink from the worlds cleanest water if you hold a cup in the air as the boat passes underneath some of the waterfalls. Seals can be seen sunbathing on the rocks and dolphins usually follow the boat just to make sure you don't get lost.
This fiord is just as spectacular under the sea as above. The first few feet of water in the fiord is fresh and is the result of runoff from the melting snow on the mountains. Below that layer of fresh water is the salt water of the Tasman Sea. This unique combination of fresh and salt water tricks the deep sea plants to grow near the surface and provides divers are rare opportunity to see them. Divers can also be rewarded with the opportunity to see a rare black coral that grows here and which is unique to this area.
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