Rough Track to Two Rewarding Falls
As a rougher tramping track, the Waipohatu Waterfall Track is one of the least-visited walks in the Catlins. While the region's other waterfall walks are well-maintained and comfortably graded, this 6.5 km loop is a tramping track, and its condition reflects that. The forest is beautiful, the two waterfalls are genuinely impressive, and you are unlikely to share either with another party, but be prepared for mud, some steep, poorly stepped ground, and maybe some scrambling. If you struggled with the quality of the short Koropuku Falls Track, then this is probably not for you.
Into the Forest
The track is accessed from the end of Waipohatu Road. Shortly before the end, there is a parking area and a grassy reserve surrounded by the forest with a toilet and picnic tables. A historic diesel haulier from the logging era is on display nearby, a reminder that much of this forest was milled in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From there, you can follow the easy 600 metre Forest Walk track through native forest alongside the Waipohatu Stream and across a fixed-span bridge to the car park at the end of the road. Or you can drive there.
From the upper car park, the waterfalls track runs along an old, weedy forestry track before it enters the forest, and the character changes quickly. The track climbs through dense temperate rainforest: a mix of regrowth and some ancient older trees, with moss, ferns, ponga trunks and the stream running dark with tannin below the track. The mud is boot-deep in places, though mostly avoidable. Orange triangle markers guide the route, but the track receives little maintenance and requires attention to the ground. Closer to the falls, the track passes through a classic Catlins goblin forest, heavily draped in moss and dim even on a bright day.
Pouriwai Falls and Punehu Falls
About halfway around the loop, a signed junction leads steeply down to each of the two waterfalls. Partway down, a marker points left and right for each one in turn. The final descents are short but steep, rooted, and slippery when wet. There are no graded paths or platforms, and the falls have to be reached rather than simply arrived at. Most people will manage, though it demands more than the tame, well-signposted experience of the other Catlins waterfall walks.
Pouriwai Falls, the higher of the two, drops in a single curtain onto a rocky pool enclosed by moss-covered walls. A large rock partly obscures the falls, so to get the best view, you need to cross the stream on stepping stones, which requires some balance. Punehu Falls, the lower waterfall, is not as high but wider and more open. No special effort is required to get the best view. Both falls are at their most powerful after rain, which also affects the track, while the surrounding dripping goblin forest intensifies the sense of enclosure.
The Waipohatu falls are almost as impressive as the Catlins' better-known waterfall walks at Purakaunui Falls, McLean Falls and Matai Falls, but the experience here is fundamentally different. There are no viewing platforms, the approach is genuinely rugged, and the solitude is complete.
You can do the walk as a loop. After the falls, continue anticlockwise, and this will take you to an exit on the road about 100 metres before the upper car park. To do the full loop, allow around 2.5 hours. The walk there and back from the upper car park is about 2 hours.
How to Get There
From Invercargill, follow the Southern Scenic Route southeast for approximately 70 km, about an hour's drive. From Dunedin, allow around 2.5 hours southwest on the Southern Scenic Route. The turn-off to Waipohatu Road is 350 metres east of the Slope Point Road junction; follow this gravel road for about 1 km to the car park.
Nearby places to visit include Fortrose, Frasers Beach, Slope Point, Curio Bay, and Waipapa Point. Other waterfall walks in the Catlins include Purakaunui Falls, McLean Falls and Matai Falls.
