Quarry Gardens Waterfalls are located in Whangarei city and are roughly a 5 minutes’ drive away from Whangarei city centre, or 2 hours’ from Auckland (no traffic). The road surface is sealed.

From Whangarei (or Auckland) travel north on the SH-1. Turn left onto Russel Rd (well signposted with ‘Quarry Gardens’ signs) and follow this road for the next 600m until you reach the Gardens entrance (on your left). Drive inside – there is a relatively large car park here and café (Open 9am-3pm Wednesday-Sunday). The Gardens open 7 days from 9am-5pm. Entry to the gardens is by donation which needs to be paid at the Visitors Centre. Toilets are available here as well. The maps will be provided at the entrance.

From the entrance follow an easy and well-maintained path which leads to the Lake. In a minute you will hear falling water somewhere on your left – there is a tiny waterfall in the bush. Worth to check it after a really good rain. Continue on to the main trail which follows the stream. There are beautiful cascades along the way. In 5-10 minutes of easy walk you will reach the lower cascades and the lake (first appearance of the main waterfall). In a good weather and in a rainy season, it is the best place to take a picture of the main waterfall accompanied by the cascades.

From here either go back (10-15 minutes total walking time), or continue to walk along the lake. There is a track which leads to the waterfall's base. There is one more waterfall en route. It takes roughly 5 minutes to reach the base of the main waterfall. Return via the same route.

Referring to the map provided at the Visitors Centre: the better view of the whole waterfall is from the track no27 (about 5-10min), and there is one more waterfall seen at the end of this track.

Highly recommend to visit after a decent rain.