Stream Devil's Punchbowl Creek

Greater watershed Bealey River → Waimakariri River → Pacific Ocean

Height 112m/367ft according to LINZ, but 131m/430ft on all the signs; I'm inclined to believe the latter

Form Sheer plunge

Volume Sizeable & consistent, sounds larger than it is

General location Arthur's Pass Village along SH73

Specific location A 1km walk from Arthur's Pass village

Trail access There are oodles of viewpoints for this waterfall. You can see it from the road, in part. You can see it from the mountain opposite, on both Scotts Track and Avalanche Peak Track. You can see it from the trail bridge over Devil's Punchbowl Creek. To get to the base, however, which you will want to do, is simple: the clearly signed and marked track starts from the north end of the village, crosses two bridges and then climbs up about 30,000 steps. Then it drops down some steps and up a few more steps to a viewing platform. Definitely not handicapped accessible.

 

Virtually every waterfall book I've ever read likes to assign ratings to the waterfalls it covers. That always puzzled me. What's the difference between a "6" and a "7"? Why even write about a "3" or "2"? How can this sort of thing be quantified? Nonetheless, I did end up taking away the idea that a "10" should be a waterfall on a global scale—the higher the rating, the more sparingly it should be used. 10s are the waterfalls that make reference books, the ones worth traveling halfway around the world to see: Yosemite, Iguazu, Victoria, Kaieteur, Angel. New Zealand, in spite of its profusion of waterfalls, has only one that I think can compete, that being Sutherland Falls.

 

Then there are the 9s; waterfalls of enormous regional significance, even if they aren't necessarily world-class attractions. They might be worth a trip from the neighbouring time zone if you've got a weekend free. New Zealand definitely has quite a few of those—the waterfalls of Milford and Doubtful Sounds, the more accessible waterfalls in Mount Aspiring National Park and so on. Devil's Punchbowl Falls is one of the most significant of those 9s, probably the best waterfall in the country north of Mount Cook. Draining a steep scree-filled valley, it drops here into a deep cleft in which clouds often linger in the mornings, then cascades down further through a narrow gorge to drain to the Bealey River.

 

Again, I don't really have photos I like, and I should have been more zealous in pursuing early morning/late evening photo opportunities and recharging my batteries. I blame my computer for not working and therefore not allowing me to review my photos on a big screen, but that's a lame excuse; I think I just didn't want to climb all those stairs more than two or three times.

 

The selection of photos here is somewhat of a reference-only thing therefore, but hopefully gives some idea of the possibilities of photographing this waterfall. As for the difficulties, spray is public enemy #1, the wind collaborates with it to start blowing it straight onto your lens as soon as you uncap it, the sun may or may not choose to smile on you, and mist can be problematic as well. I'm not sure how worth it slow shutter shots are even if you can find a dry-ish viewpoint, as they make the waterfall look quite different from reality, though I like the look myself.