
Karekare Falls
Thirty-metre bush waterfall named for white flax fibres, tumbling into a plunge pool near a black-sand coast.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Karekare Falls on Auckland's west coast opens with the sound of the water itself, the source of its Maori name, Te Ahoaho. It traces the fortified village that once stood on the headland above, home to Te Kawerau a Maki, and the 1826 Musket Wars raid led by Hone Heke that emptied the pa and left the ground under tapu. Stand at the base of the pool, facing the spray, to listen.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Lower Fairy Falls
Cascading fifteen-metre bush waterfall reached by boardwalk steps and bridges rebuilt after a six-year kauri dieback closure.
Waitakere Ranges Regional Park
Rainforest of ancient kauri trees, black-sand beaches, and waterfall-laced walking tracks.
Te Henga (Bethells Beach)
Black volcanic-sand coast backed by wind-sculpted dunes shaped like an upturned canoe.
Karekare Beach
Black volcanic sand beach with dramatic cliffs and notoriously unpredictable surf.
Te Tatua-a-Riukiuta
Volcanic cone with pa terraces and kumara pits, the sole survivor of three peaks quarried for red scoria.
Piha Beach
Wild black-iron-sand surf beach split by a volcanic rock outcrop, ringed by rainforest ranges.