The Waterfall Walk

Adventure to the Heights

It starts easy. A farm track beside the river, through paddocks and patches of riverside bush. There's a giant pukatea tree where the views down into the river open up wide. Then the track climbs and drops, climbs again, playing with the landscape before it brings you to a junction.

The side track is short. A quick scramble through forest and then you hear it before you see it. Water tumbling down multiple terraces, gushing white over dark rock after rain, a fine mist after dry spells. There's a pool downstream. On a hot day, this is where you'll want to be.

But the real moment comes after. The climb to the ridgeline. Switchbacks through scrub and forest, steady and manageable. Then you're at the viewpoint and the entire Waioweka Gorge spreads out below. River snaking away into the mountain beyond. Ranges stacked against ranges all the way to the horizon. On moody days, clouds roll through the valley like something alive.

This is the highest point of the walk. The place where you fully grasp why some people spend their whole lives looking at hills like these. It's a climb that's absolutely worth it.

The Tarn Walk

Mountain Mystique Awaits

The valley's river keeps you company at first, its steady murmur following you along a dead-end road so quiet you might not see a single car. Then the climb begins. Up through landscapes that shift beneath your feet: open pasture giving way to shrubland, then suddenly you're in it. Proper native bush closing in around you.

The plateau comes first. And there it is - the tarn. Dark water, perfectly still, reflecting the canopy like a mirror someone left in the forest. The track takes you around it, close enough to see that perfect stillness up close.

Push on and the forest opens up. Suddenly the entire valley spreads out below you. The kind of view that makes you stop mid-step. The river now snaking far below, carving silver through green. The mountain ranges stacking up in the distance, layer after layer disappearing into blue. These views will stay in mind for months after.

The Creek Walk

Embrace Nature’s Calm

The creek keeps you company most of the way, always hearing it murmur over stone.

You'll follow its course, working your way up through native bush that grows thicker the deeper you go. Halfway up, the valley narrows. Water flowing over stones and logs create mini waterfalls at points, with the forest pressing in on both sides.

Watch for the pukatea tree. You'll know it when you see it: roots spreading wide like they're holding the hillside in place. Just beyond it, a side creek tumbles down in a small waterfall. Good spot to stop before the final climb.

Then you're up high, sidling the hillside well above the water, catching glimpses back down the valley you just walked through. The air feels different here. Cooler. Heavier with the smell of damp earth and growing things.

It's the shortest of the three walks, but the ambience gets inside you. Birdsong layering over the constant sound of running water. Twigs snapping underfoot. The buzz of insects working through ferns. Everything alive and moving around you. The hills hold you close here, surrounded by the natural hum of life.