The best waterfalls in Bay of Plenty

Tutea Falls: Standing Beside the World's Highest Rafted Waterfall

I lost count of the steps on the way down somewhere past forty. Didn't matter, because by then I could already hear it through the trees before I saw a thing. Then the track opened out onto a platform and there it was, seven metres of white water going straight down, close enough that the spray hit the rail I was leaning on.

No photo had prepared me for it. I'd looked at plenty before the trip, and not one of them got across how loud the place actually is, or that cold, restless mist that hits your skin before you even register it's there. You're standing there, water roaring below, having to raise your voice to talk to the person next to you, and you just feel small next to it. This isn't some quiet waterfall you snap a photo of and wander off from. It's got a bit of a temper.

Most waterfalls fall from the top. Tarawera Falls comes straight out of the side of a cliff, like the mountain itself is bleeding water, and you only get to see it if you show up on the right day of the week.

A friend and I drove out on a Saturday with zero backup plan if we'd gotten the day wrong. We hadn't. What followed was close to five hours of walking through some of the most untouched forest I've seen in New Zealand, a swimming stop where the current was slow enough to actually get in, and a final ten minutes where none of that mattered because we were just standing in front of water erupting sideways out of solid rock.

Here's what you need to sort out before you go.