Rainbow Falls

Bay of Islands / Kerikeri, North Island, New Zealand

About Rainbow Falls

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Rainbow Falls was a very nice waterfall that eerily reminded me of how Whangarei Falls looked, which we had seen just the day before seeing this one.

Not only did they look the same, they had similar height (27m as opposed to 26m for Whangarei Falls).

They both had vertical plunges in that classic rectangular (almost square) block shape.

Rainbow_Falls_019_11072004
Rainbow Falls

Moreover, we saw them both from their tops as well as from right across the plunge pool (as shown above).

Perhaps the only thing keeping these two waterfalls from being dead ringers was that Rainbow Falls seemed to have a bit more flow than Whangarei Falls so it appeared less segmented.

Julie and I happened to visit on a warm and sunny day in the far north of New Zealand’s North Island (roughly half-way between Whangarei and Cape Reinga at the far northern tip).

Even though we were kind of looking against the early afternoon sun, the good weather made us chill as we admired the attraction before us.

We were told by other visitors that it was possible to scramble towards the backside of the falls (which we didn’t do). In fact, we saw some brave young guys do just that.

We happened to see the same daredevils stand at the edge of the top of the waterfall before we made the walk down to the waterfall’s base.

Walks Around Rainbow Falls

Speaking of the walk, it was a very short five-minute walk that went by a view at the brink of the falls.

The track then descended towards a bench conveniently placed by the plunge pool across from the falls itself.

Had we allowed ourselves more time, we could’ve extended this walk into a longer 4km (8km round trip) Kerikeri River Track.

That longer track passed by the Wharepoke Falls and the Fairy Pools.

We could have also done the river track as a one-way shuttle hike though I’m not sure how the transport arrangements would be made easily without having two cars (typically not an option for most visitors).

Authorities

Rainbow Falls 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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Tagged with: kerikeri, northland, north island, bay of islands, wharepoke falls, paihia, cape reinga, new zealand, waterfall



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