The beautiful Purakaunui Falls are a cascading three-tiered waterfall on the Purakaunui River, located in The Catlins in the southern South Island of New Zealand. The Purakaunui is 20 meters/66 ft tall. It is one of very few South Island waterfalls away from the alpine region; it has long been a widespread destination. The waterfalls are an iconic image for The Catlins region and were featured on a New Zealand postage stamp in 1976.
The Purakaunui falls are located 17 km to the southwest of the small town of Owaka and 5 kilometers from the river’s outflow into the Pacific Ocean. The falls can be accessed via a 10-minute bush walk from a car park on the Waikato Valley Purakaunui Falls Road, a gravel side road off the main Owaka-Invercargill road. Although Purakaunui Falls are not part of the Catlins Forest Park, they’re well surrounded by native bush made of podocarp and silver beech, in a picturesque reserve of five square kilometers.
A trivial viewing platform nearby the top of the falls is reachable by wheelchair. Steps continue down to the main viewing platform at the base of the 20 meters three tiered cascades. There is a big car park at Purakaunui Falls Road with toilets and picnic tables. The Catlins is one of the Must See places in New Zealand.
Attractive highways, plenteously of walks, memorable views of the Southern Ocean, exclusive animals, and so on, make this part of New Zealand just the right place to visit, no matter whether you’ve been here before or not. The Pūrākaunui Falls is one of Otago’s iconic, however, in the area, make some efforts to go and visit Purakaunui Beach as well.
