Australia 
In numbers.
Jun–Sep
Best months
437m
Elevation
The water at Nelson Falls, month by month
It roars from June to October.
The fullest months: from June to October.
- 35%Jan
- 27%Feb
- 37%Mar
- 47%Apr
- 68%May
- 79%Jun
- 90%Jul
- 100%Aug
- 95%Sep
- 78%Oct
- 53%Nov
- 46%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Cascade waterfall located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia
Nelson Falls is a waterfall in Australia.
Getting there.
- Queenstownnearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,630 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Devonport Airport (DPO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 118 km in a straight lineCar hire at DPO airport (Devonport)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Septemberbest 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 214 m in 3.4 km. Here the river runs about 45 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmNelson Falls
- —caves
- 1campsitesLake Burbury Campground
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- —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).
Towns nearby
- Queenstown14 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 18 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 16 |
| Night °C | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 90 | 75 | 117 | 121 | 166 | 166 | 192 | 213 | 180 | 148 | 106 | 122 |
| Wet days | 13 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 23 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 16 |
| Sun h/day | 8.3 | 7.8 | 6.0 | 4.7 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 6.4 | 7.2 | 7.5 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide. 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 | 112% | 137% | 211% | 176% | 83% | 70% | 42% | 60% | 65% | 131% | 72% | 119% |
| 2021 | 100% | 127% | 116% | 94% | 67% | 81% | 110% | 77% | 79% | 180% | 88% | 44% |
| 2022 | 66% | 64% | 49% | 61% | 98% | 99% | 44% | 78% | 53% | 150% | 141% | 69% |
| 2023 | 44% | 107% | 114% | 74% | 119% | 103% | 90% | 59% | 55% | 94% | 46% | 80% |
| 2024 | 125% | 70% | 62% | 71% | 45% | 49% | 62% | 91% | 109% | 72% | 88% | 125% |
| 2025 | 46% | 57% | 47% | 61% | 44% | 81% | 70% | 55% | 110% | 136% | 196% | 95% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Nelson Falls
Australia
- —Height
- —Average flow
- Jun–SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q17053320) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| 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.
The family
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