New Zealand 
In numbers.
4.9m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Sep–Dec
Best months
410m
Elevation
The water at Christie Falls, month by month
It roars from April to February.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 5.6 m³/sJan
- 3.6 m³/sFeb
- 2.9 m³/sMar
- 3.3 m³/sApr
- 5.4 m³/sMay
- 4.2 m³/sJun
- 4.7 m³/sJul
- 4.5 m³/sAug
- 6.9 m³/sSep
- 7.9 m³/sOct
- 6.5 m³/sNov
- 6.1 m³/sDec
From about 2.9 m³/s in the lowest month to 7.9 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from September to December.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in New Zealand
Christie Falls is a waterfall in New Zealand. It lies within Fiordland National Park.
Getting there.
- Parking 40 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Queenstown Airport (ZQN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 57 km in a straight lineCar hire at ZQN airport (Queenstown)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From September to Decemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 369 m in 1.8 km.
What is around.
- 4viewpointsWaldigs Tal and 3 more
- —waymarked walking routes
- 5car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmMarian Cascade, Falls Creek Waterfall
- —caves
- 1campsitesGreenstone Saddle Campsite
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmMcKellar Lodge
- —restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 18 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 17 |
| Night °C | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 160 | 133 | 133 | 133 | 156 | 133 | 132 | 120 | 148 | 159 | 141 | 159 |
| Wet days | 18 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 21 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 18 | 20 |
| Sun h/day | 7.3 | 7.6 | 6.1 | 5.1 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 7.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (410 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 66% | 159% | 94% | 140% | 76% | 81% | 139% | 120% | 189% | 153% | 76% | 130% |
| 2021 | 150% | 41% | 98% | 135% | 119% | 154% | 164% | 168% | 150% | 104% | 151% | 131% |
| 2022 | 37% | 155% | 30% | 71% | 60% | 109% | 78% | 125% | 46% | 58% | 82% | 42% |
| 2023 | 25% | 77% | 143% | 92% | 211% | 102% | 129% | 135% | 175% | 104% | 119% | 142% |
| 2024 | 178% | 177% | 152% | 178% | 70% | 98% | 92% | 186% | 229% | 182% | 145% | 129% |
| 2025 | 54% | 76% | 104% | 120% | 78% | 82% | 44% | 116% | 221% | 225% | 163% | 138% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Christie Falls
New Zealand
- —Height
- 4.9 m³/sAverage flow
- Sep–DecBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q32159747) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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