Sutherland Falls

Interesting facts

Surveyor William Quill took about three and a half hours to climb beside the falls in 1890, equipped with little more than a billhook and an alpenstock.

Less than a year after his climb, Quill died aged 25, falling from a cliff of some 600 metres while trying to cross Gertrude Saddle alone.

Before it was named after Quill, the lake that feeds the falls was known as Lake William.

Lake Quill is a glacial cirque tarn of about 1.2 square kilometres, lying at roughly 979 metres above sea level.

Donald Sutherland had fought with Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand in Italy before he settled at Milford Sound as a hermit-explorer.

In 1888 Sutherland was hired to cut a track from Milford Sound to the falls; the work took six months, and the route is now part of the Milford Track.

Sutherland spotted the falls while searching for a pass between Milford Sound and Queenstown, a route he never found.

For years Sutherland was the only permanent resident of Milford Sound, receiving visitors only when government steamers called about twice a year.

Why it is worth it

Sutherland Falls in the mountains of Fiordland is one of the tallest waterfalls in New Zealand, and one of the most graceful anywhere: a single white thread that drops about 580 metres from the lip of a hanging valley in three great leaps. The upper fall plunges some 229 metres, the middle one about 248 metres, and the last 103 metres to the valley floor. Because the water falls across roughly 480 metres of horizontal distance as it descends, it reads from below as a long, slightly curving ribbon laid against the rock wall rather than a straight curtain.

The source is Lake Quill, a small lake perched above the cliff. It takes its name from the man who first reached it in 1890 by climbing the rock face beside the falls. The waterfall itself is named after Donald Sutherland, a Scottish settler at Milford Sound who came upon it in 1880. He reported it as more than a thousand metres high, which would have made it the tallest waterfall in the world; later measurement brought it down to its real, still extraordinary, height.

The falls lie in the heart of Fiordland National Park, in a landscape of deep valleys, sheer rock walls and rainforest. There is no road here: the way in is the Milford Track, one of New Zealand's classic multi-day walks, and the falls are a side trip from its third day, after the crossing of Mackinnon Pass. Walkers leave their packs at Quintin shelter and make a return walk of about an hour and a half to the base. The falls also appear briefly in the background of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Getting there

Sutherland Falls is reached on foot via the Milford Track, a 54 km, four-day walk that runs one way through Fiordland National Park. The track starts at Glade Wharf, reached by a boat of about 1 hour 15 minutes from Te Anau Downs, and ends at Sandfly Point, from which a short boat ride goes to Milford Sound. The nearest airport is Queenstown Airport (ZQN), about 84 km away in a straight line and much further by road; Invercargill is about 184 km away.

Sutherland Falls

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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