Sutherland Falls and Lake Quill in New Zealand

© Michael Rathmayr/plainpictur

Winter on South Island. Don’t look down

Sutherland Falls spills over the side of Lake Quill in the jagged, glacier-carved landscape of Fiordland National Park on New Zealand’s South Island. For years, it was believed to be the tallest waterfall in the world, thanks in part to a rough estimate by Scottish explorer Donald Sutherland, the first European to see the falls. Later, more scientific surveys proved this estimate to be significantly inflated, but Sutherland Falls is still 1,900 feet tall, which is pretty high in our book.It’s probably quite chilly out in the Fiordland wilderness today, as the Southern Hemisphere is in the midst of winter. While the Northern Hemisphere has tilted towards the Sun, giving us the long, warm days of summer, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away, so the days are short and nights are cold.