A World of Waterfalls at McLaren Falls Park

It’s only the beginning!

Although we are here marvelling at the falls, this is only the entrance to a huge recreational area of lakes, trees, wildlife and yes, more waterfalls. Just a few hundred metres further up the road, we arrive at the McLaren Falls Park. A single road covered in the red autumn leaves winds its way around exotic trees.

What’s a stroll in the park without a picnic?

We park up at the information centre to see a huge map of walking tracks around the park. We pick our track, but first things first, we’re in a park and we are hungry. Let’s have a picnic!

When setting off on a walking track with sandwiches and bananas in hand, it doesn’t take long to find a picnic bench. We walk over a quaint footbridge, again covered in autumn leaves, and arrive at “Cherry Bay”. Well, this place isn’t exactly a “bay” as it is literally a picnic bench next to a tiny stream. Nevertheless, it makes a most delightful picnic setting.

What an entrance to McLaren Falls Park!

The Waterfall Track

Once Robin starts getting a bit restless by seeing if he can jump over the stream, we decide now would be a good time to really hit the tracks. On the theme of waterfalls, we hit the waterfall track. This waterfall is so no-nonsense that it doesn’t even have a name!

A wild and wonderful forest

We start off on this short loop track which delves straight into a tall forest. The forest looks like it is trying to engulf itself with vines wrapping around trees and trees wrapping around other trees(?!). The trees have grown with some pretty funk shapes, one of which has a pleasingly large hold right through the trunk which invites you to stick your face through. Moss grows everywhere it can, which is a common theme in New Zealand’s forests. Although we can’t really see any wildlife in the forest, cobwebs glisten in the beams of sunlight bursting through the trees.