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New Zealand New Zealand Waterfall

Okere Falls

On the Kaituna River.

When to go

Kayakers at Okere Falls (Kaituna River)
Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia · CC BY 3.0

In numbers.

May–Aug

Best months

289m

Elevation

The water at Okere Falls, month by month

It roars from May to August.

The fullest months: from May to August.

  1. 42%Jan
  2. 41%Feb
  3. 45%Mar
  4. 66%Apr
  5. 80%May
  6. 94%Jun
  7. 100%Jul
  8. 90%Aug
  9. 72%Sep
  10. 60%Oct
  11. 41%Nov
  12. 50%Dec
high water best months to go

Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to August.

Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.

Waterfall in New Zealand

Okere Falls is a waterfall on the Kaituna River, in New Zealand. It lies within Ōkere Falls Scenic Reserve.

Getting there.

Plan your visit

Stay, explore and get there

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Seen from the sky.

8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.

Okere Falls seen from above (Sentinel-2) N 2 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The Kaituna River through the falls
260 m280 m300 mOkere Falls-0.5 km0+0.5 km+1 km+1.5 km← upstreamdownstream →

The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.

Around the falls the river drops 32 m in 2.3 km.

What is around.

  • 4viewpoints
  • —waymarked walking routes
  • 9car parks
  • —swimming spots
  • 2picnic sites
  • 2toilets
  • —information boards and visitor centres
  • —bus stops within 1 km
  • 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmTrout Pool Falls, Tutea Falls
  • 1caves
  • 1campsites
  • 3hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmVR Rotorua Lake Resort, Rotoiti Lakeside Lodge, Ramada Resort
  • —restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

  • Hamurana7.2 km in a straight line
  • Kaharoa9.9 km in a straight line
  • Ngongotaha15 km in a straight line
  • Ohinemutu16 km in a straight line
  • Rotorua16 km in a straight line
  • Victoria16 km in a straight line
  • Utuhina18 km in a straight line

Weather

The weather, month by month.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon °C232321181512111214161821
Night °C141413119766781013
Rain & snow (mm)7273801041031121139882815796
Wet days10911121414141514121112
Sun h/day9.48.17.56.35.34.44.75.66.47.68.78.6

Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide. Not a forecast.

Photos

Through visitors' eyes.

Okere Falls, Kaituna River
macronix from Bern, Switzerland · CC BY 2.0
Okere falls
Pukekoweka · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recent years

Wet years and dry years

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
202027%17%69%28%65%214%105%101%56%73%206%28%
202147%77%83%46%98%115%105%80%164%144%108%124%
202241%219%196%55%118%190%218%87%269%160%352%163%
2023372%275%88%80%254%139%71%59%249%89%186%109%
2024106%69%79%72%103%124%113%102%54%139%81%94%
202581%66%58%172%123%177%201%100%140%139%279%99%

130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual

Compare with the waterfalls nearby.

Okere Falls

New Zealand

  • —Height
  • —Average flow
  • May–AugBest months

Tarawera Falls

New Zealand

  • 35 mHeight
  • 9.8 m³/sAverage flow
  • May–AugBest months

See the guide

Omanawa Falls

New Zealand

  • —Height
  • 2.9 m³/sAverage flow
  • May–AugBest months

See the guide

Te Rerekawau

New Zealand

  • —Height
  • 0.39 m³/sAverage flow
  • May–AugBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, riverWikidata (Q7081944) · CC0
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Relief, river profile, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Paths, viewpoints, parking© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.