About Owharoa Falls
Owharoa Falls was an attractive waterfall that had quite a bit of what Julie likes to say “character” to it.
Not only did this waterfall possess a fair-sized drop at around 10-15m or so, but it also had wide and trapezoidal shape to complement the underlying ripplying texture that yielded this character.
Julie and I witnessed some Maori locals who managed to climb up to the middle of the falls before doing a daring plunge into the large plunge pool below.
Their acrobatics even managed to draw some applause from other visitors who just happened to be there.
I guess based on this observation, in addition to its attractiveness, the falls would also make a nice swimming hole to cool off if it would get hot here.
Owharoa Falls was nestled within the Karangahake Gorge, which was known for old gold mining sites as well as the nature of the gorge itself.
We didn’t visit those historical mines as we were only content to spend time at just the falls.
That said, we did make the very short walk from the roadside pullouts (see directions below) to the plunge pool.
That was when we also noticed another upper tier of Owharoa Falls further upstream that was mostly hidden.
I guess it kind of teased us into imagining that there could be much more to this waterfall than what meets the eye.
After visiting Owharoa Falls, we then continued our drive to the surf town of Whangamata.
Just 15 minutes prior to visiting the falls, we actually made the kitchy stop to the big L&P (that’s Lemon & Paeroa) bottle in the town of Paeroa.
It turned out that this town was known as the home of the beverage that Kiwis (i.e. New Zealanders) like to drink.
Authorities
Owharoa Falls resides in the Karangahake Gorge, which in turn resides in the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park near Waihi in the Bay of Plenty region of North Island, New Zealand. It is administered under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
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