The Wairoa Falls is the unofficial name for a decent-sized waterfall immediately below the Otau Road car park in the Hunua Ranges. You can access the Suspension Bridge Track and the Wairoa Loop Track from the car park.
As you go into the car park, you will see on the right some rocks around the edge. Walk behind these to see the top of the falls, but don’t try and find a way down from here!
If you go to the far end of the car park, there is a reasonably obvious gap in the bush with an informal, easy track down to a rocky area at the base of the falls. You can step down the rocks and follow the steam for about 50 metres. This takes you to the base of another very pretty waterfall fed by a different stream. Someone has even gone to the trouble of building enough of a stone wall to create a soaking pool below the falls.
Depending on how overgrown the adjacent scrub is, you can expect to get your feet wet to some degree at the second waterfall.
