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Browne Falls is a
waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
above
Doubtful Sound
Doubtful Sound / Patea is a fiord in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. It is located in the same region as the smaller but more famous and accessible Milford Sound / Piopiotahi. It took second place after Milford Sound as New Zea ...
, which is located in
Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of , and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. The park i ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. In a temperate rain forest, the falls cascade down to the fiord near
Hall Arm. Heights of 619 metres and 836 metres have been given for the falls.
Their source is a
tarn called Lake Browne (836 m above sea level) which when full, overflows down the side of the mountain face (similar to
Sutherland's source). The stream makes 836 m height difference over 1,130 m horizontal difference, thus the mean gradient of stream is 42 degrees.
This comparatively low angle makes the falls less impressive.
The falls are one of the two candidates for the title of New Zealand's highest waterfall. The other is sourced from a
tarn behind
Elizabeth Island which is also in
Fiordland
Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes, ...
.
The falls are named after pioneering aerial photographer, Victor Carlyle Browne, who discovered Lake Browne and the associated falls on one of his flights over Fiordland in the 1940s.
There are at least two other notable waterfalls falling to Doubtful Sound:
Helena Falls and
Lady Alice Falls.
Natural history
There is a diversity of plant and birdlife in the vicinity and
watershed of Browne Falls. Extensive stands of
nothofagus
''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...
dominated trees are present along with a wide variety of understory
fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...
s and shrubs; examples of the forest floor vegetation include
crown fern (''Lomaria discolor'').
[Hogan,C. Michael. (2009/]
''Crown Fern: Blechnum discolor'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
See also
*
List of waterfalls by height
*
Waterfalls of New Zealand
New Zealand, according to the gazetteer maintained by Land Information New Zealand has "249 named waterfalls and 31 named rapids". There are perhaps seven named "Bridal Veil", and 17 whose names include "Rere" meaning "to leap or descend". In th ...
References
External links
Introduction to Manapouri
at the New Zealand Tourism Guide
Waterfalls of Fiordland
Cascade waterfalls
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