Driving through the South Island from Nelson towards the west coast we had to stop here. Maruia Falls is easily accessible from the road (State Highway 65). Its an ideal picnic stop. A couple of hours drive away from either Greymouth or Hanmer Springs. The height of these falls is 10 metres. When I first arrived I was disappointed at the cloudy weather and didn’t think I could take a good enough photo to share online. Exploring the area I was able to get down close to the water. The rocks shown here in the foreground weren’t very big but add much needed interest to the composition of this photograph.
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.
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.
Thunder Creek Falls – Haast
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.