With a drop of 508 feet, Stirling Falls is the second tallest in Milford Sound. Its namesake was Royal Navy Commodore Frederick Stirling. After captaining the HMS Clio, he was commander-in-chief of the Australia Squadron and then Pacific Station during the 1870s. Stirling Falls plunges over an elevated chasm – actual a glacier valley – nestled between two personified mountains. Directly to the south is The Lion at 4,272 feet. To the north is The Elephant at 4,948 feet. The Māori name for this magnificent falls is Wai Manu meaning “Cloud on the Water.”
