Nov 3, 2025 Tupapakurua Falls
We went waterfall hunting today. Our goal was Tupapkurua falls about a 45 minute drive from the B&B. It looked like a less touristy, less tramped track to get there. On the way we had a much clearer view of Mount Ruapehu!
Snow capped, with a few clouds behind.
We found the car park for our trail and started hiking up through a thick forest of mostly tree ferns and shrubs with a few large trees rising above the canopy. It was nice and cool in the shade.
At Taranaki Lookout we had a view over the forest to the west towards Mt. Taranaki, which we could not see though the skies seemed clear in that direction.
We finally reached Tupapakurua falls which is impressive, except that it is across a deep and wide gorge! We couldn’t see the bottom! The hike through the forest was worth it though!
After hiking back down the trail we drove in search of another falls, this one closer to the highway, but much more popular.
Tawhai Falls is just a 15 minute walk from the car park in Tongariro National Park.
For a slo-mo video of the falls click HERE. Our drive back to the B&B yielded great views of Mt. Ruapehu (with more clouds around the flat summit) and the cone shaped Mt. Ngauruhoe.