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Shine Falls

Deep in the forest is this spectacular 58 metre high waterfall. It’s about one and a half hours drive north of Napier in the Hawke Bay region of New Zealand. After rough gravel road for the last 6.5km to the carpark. Then a 45 minute walk from there. It was amazing to come across such a huge waterfall on the Boundary Stream. The viewpoints are very close to the waterfall itself. Making it a challenge to capture on camera. So close in fact my camera couldn’t capture the full height at a 24mm focal length. You can’t get further back due to the forest. Sadly I didn’t bring a super wide angle lens with me. The spray from the waterfall soaked myself, the camera and tripod. So between each frame I had to wipe down the lens. In the end this is two photographs combined together in post processing.

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Maraetotara Falls

About 40 minutes drive south of Napier is Maraetotara Falls. Close to the site of the old Havelock North Power Station. It’s a short 10 minute walk from the road. That said the access to where this photograph was taken was far from ideal. Certainly far from accessible. It’s a tiered waterfall with a height of 15 metres. When we went in the morning there was only one other couple. They had been for a swim in this crystal clear water. There’s also a view down on the falls from the left side. As we were leaving a dozen or so people turned up with a BBQ so clearly it’s a popular swimming spot with locals.

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Thunder Creek Falls – Haast

Tall and thin waterfall surrounded by thick, green foliage and a rushing river in the foreground.

This waterfall has been on my list to revisit for nearly 10 years. Back in 2013 I had an extremely wet visit to the Thunder Creek Falls. It rained so hard that even with the camera in a waterproof bag it stopped working after two shots. Revisiting it meant many extra hours of driving. Fortunately it was up the West Coast of the South Island which is a spectacular drive. It was raining when I took this photograph. Using a 30 second long exposure I was lucky not to get too much rain or spray on the lens. This is a 28 metre tall waterfall. It is great to revisit locations like this with more time and better equipment. When comparing the two photographs it’s clear to me which had more thought go into it and which was a quick snap shot.

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Dawson Falls – Te Were o Noke

Te Rere o Noke (Dawson Falls) is an 18 metre waterfall in Mt Egmont National Park. It’s one of the most popular and accessible falls in the Taranaki region. There are a few stairs making the track not suitable for wheelchairs or strollers. The road to the carpark is sealed and from there it is a 20 minute walk to the waterfall. We arrived in the early evening in summer. If I had had more time it would have been nice to get closer to the falls, maybe even gone for a swim. We still had another hour or so drive to our accomodation that day so this had to be a quick stop.