Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls is a multi-tiered cascade deep in the Waitakere Range west of Auckland. What was really cool about the hike to this waterfall was that it passed through a grove of Kauri trees, which are giant white-barked trees that are kind of analogous to

We happened to see Fairy Falls in January of 2010, and at the time, it seemed to have fairly decent flow (even though the falls did seem somewhat thin compared to some of the other waterfalls in New Zealand that we've seen. I've also seen photos in the literature of this falls barely trickling around the time of year that we saw it so that probably suggests that you have to time it for a short time after the last rain storm in order to have a decent viewing experience.

While this excursion had a lot of cool features to it, the hike itself required a little bit of physical exertion. That was because it was an upside down hike where we had to descend all the way to the bottom of the falls, and then climb all the way back up to the car park. While the trees provided a fair bit of shade to keep this from being an overly grueling hike, it was still a hot and sweaty affair for us as we did this hike on a fairly warm January day in 2010.

All told, we spent about 90 minutes for the entire hike including a brief photo break at the bottom of Fairy Falls. Even though it was a fairly non-trivial hike, there were still lots of people at the falls, including lots of families with kids. There were even young folks in their prime looking for a little more seclusion by scrambling to some of the middle waterfalls and pools for a dip. And if that wasn't all, there were even glimpses of Auckland in the distance during the hike down.

All in all, it was a fine way to spend a couple of hours while day touring out of New Zealand's largest city.

Directions: There are a bunch of ways to get to the Waitakere Ranges. The way we did it (out of the Auckland CBD where we were staying) was to find our way west towards the West Coast Rd via New North Rd and Great North Rd.

The West Coast Rd eventually merges with Scenic Dr. We then followed Scenic Drive for another 5km or so (keeping right at the fork) where the car park for Fairy Falls was on the left. The trailhead begins across the road on the east side (so watch out when crossing due to the relatively high speed of cars motoring by on Scenic Drive).

Alternatively, we could've gotten onto Scenic Drive further south in Auckland passing by the Arataki Visitor Centre en route (further south from the West Coast Rd and Scenic Dr junction).

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Another look at the bottommost tier

The middle cascades

Another look at the middle cascades

Kauri tree by the middle cascades

A couple enjoying themselves at the middle cascades

The uppermost tier

The trail goes alongside the uppermost tier after crossing its top

Crossing the top of the falls

Julie dwarfed by a tall Kauri tree on the trail

Julie dwarfed by another Kauri tree by the falls

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Bottom up sweep of the bottommost falls

Bottom up sweep of the middle cascades

Quick bottom up sweep of the uppermost cascade

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TRIP REPORTS

• January 10, 2010

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NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Kitekite Falls
• Karekare Falls

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