Purakaunui Falls — Attraction in South Island

If you are doing the Catlins Drive, then this is a must! Just a short 17km drive from Owaka. The last bit of the drive is a gravel road. But nothing a small two wheel drive would not be able to do.

Beautiful tiered cascading falls just a short walk away from the generous car park. Walk through a mix of beech and podocarp trees in Catlins Forest Park to reach the Upper Viewing platform. This walk is very gentle. Then walk down to enjoy the more glorious view from the lower deck. This one is apparently one of the most photographed falls in...

The Falls is beautiful & the walk to it is short from the car park. Most of the walk is on flat only a short section of it is on staircases. The car park is large enough to serve a crowd but the road sign is pretty small so when you are driving close do slow down. You are driving on winding gravel roads all the way to or from it so you are not set to drive fast anyway. The viewing platform is rather small though. It’ll get my 5-star if the fence is not too...

We happened upon Purakaunui Falls by accident. We were leaving Milford Sound and found this along the way to our next destination. I loved these falls. They were super simple to get to, had an amazing flow of water running, and they looked awesome from different angles. The rocks were pretty slippery, so you have to be mindful of that. I wish we weren't so rushed to get out of there because it is a very peaceful waterfall and no one else was anywhere...