New Zealand 
In numbers.
153m
Height
0.45m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Aug
Best months
677kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Wairere Falls, month by month
It roars from May to August.
The fullest months: from May to August.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.6 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 0.7 m³/sJul
- 0.7 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 0.4 m³/sOct
- 0.3 m³/sNov
- 0.3 m³/sDec
From about 0.25 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.72 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to August.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Waikato, New Zealand
Wairere Falls is a waterfall in New Zealand. The water falls 153 m.
Getting there.
- Waharoanearest town · 11 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,570 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Tauranga Airport (TRG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 29 km in a straight lineCar hire at TRG airport (Tauranga)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to Augustbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
677 kW
About 0.45 m³/s falling 153 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 169 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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 365 m in 2.9 km.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsWairere Falls Lower Lookout, Wairere Falls Upper Lookout, The International Seat of Peace
- 1waymarked walking routesWairere Falls track
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- 4picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmTe Ariki Falls
- —caves
- 1campsitesOpal Hot Springs & Holiday Park
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- —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
- Waharoa11 km in a straight line
- Matamata13 km in a straight line
- Omokoroa17 km in a straight line
- Bethlehem21 km in a straight line
- Katikati21 km in a straight line
- Greerton22 km in a straight line
- Gate Pa23 km in a straight line
- Judea24 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 22 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 |
| Night °C | 12 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 66 | 75 | 81 | 100 | 114 | 115 | 117 | 103 | 89 | 84 | 57 | 95 |
| Wet days | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 12 |
| Sun h/day | 8.4 | 7.3 | 6.9 | 5.8 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 7.2 | 7.2 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (395 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 24% | 14% | 67% | 32% | 113% | 201% | 130% | 129% | 60% | 73% | 171% | 33% |
| 2021 | 65% | 101% | 94% | 67% | 86% | 124% | 119% | 99% | 183% | 157% | 93% | 114% |
| 2022 | 40% | 202% | 176% | 76% | 131% | 190% | 256% | 121% | 228% | 174% | 384% | 163% |
| 2023 | 585% | 297% | 87% | 122% | 236% | 166% | 86% | 70% | 209% | 104% | 155% | 122% |
| 2024 | 109% | 80% | 109% | 85% | 120% | 113% | 117% | 112% | 77% | 140% | 131% | 86% |
| 2025 | 122% | 56% | 68% | 207% | 131% | 184% | 211% | 124% | 140% | 155% | 315% | 98% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Wairere Falls
New Zealand
- 153 mHeight
- 0.45 m³/sAverage flow
- May–AugBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q7960331) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX 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
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