Tapapakanga Waterfalls are roughly a 1-1.5hrs drive away from Auckland. The road surface is sealed, except the last 1km which is a typical gravel road.

From Auckland travel south on the SH-1 until the ‘Botanic Gardens’ Exit. Take Hill Rd exit, turn left and follow Hill Rd until the first round-about where you need to turn right into Stratford Rd, which becomes Alfriston Rd and then Brookby Rd. Stay on this road for 8.7km. On round-about turn right into West Road and follow it for the next 4km. Turn left into Clevedon Rd, then in Clevedon Village on the round-about turn right into Kawakawa Rd and follow it for the next 28km. Turn left to Tapapakanga Regional Park and drive to the beach-front car park (gravel road). There are heaps of picnic tables there as well as long-drop toilets.

From the car park walk down to the beach, then turn left and follow the road to the campsite. There is no official track beyond this point. It’s a low tide walk only!!! From here, with care, walk along the water (do not climb on the cliff). There will be a ‘rocks’ section in the beginning of the walk (a section between two bays), extreme care is required here. Then you reach the next bay. The waterfalls are found in this bay. First one is almost at the beginning of the bay, then 5 minutes’ walk from it the next one, and then two more almost at the end of the bay. The waterfalls are tiny, but some of them are quite tall (may be 10-15m high). Bases of all waterfalls are easy reachable. Best time to visit these waterfalls is after a decent rain.

Return via the same way. If you have time, you can explorer the next bay. There are no waterfalls there, but the walk is quite nice.