Whangārei Falls
Whangārei Falls is located just on the outskirts of Whangarei on Boundary Road in the suburb of Tikipunga, a popular place for both locals and tourists to visit, go for walks along the edge of the Hatea River, or to have a picnic on the lawns and tables at the top of the waterfall near the main car park.
The Hātea River drops twenty six metres (around eighty five feet) over a basalt lava flow. There are many gravel and dirt walkways through the native bush, around the falls and alongside the river, the full walking track to A.H Reed park and back to the falls in a loop is about one hour.
The falls were originally known as Otuihau, and have been a common picnic spot since at least the 1890s. In the 1920s, the land was bought by Archibald Clapham, who donated around four hundred clocks to a clock museum that became Clapham's Clocks. He bought the land to prevent commercial exploitation of the falls. The Whangarei Businessmen's Association raised funds in 1946 to buy the land on behalf of the citizens of Whangarei and turned it into a public park.
The waterfall's pool looks wonderful for swimming, though with disapproval from the local council who had put up signs one summer telling the swimmers "swim dumb and you're done." It was not entirely clear what the sign mean.