The McLean Falls on the

Tautuku River The Tautuku River originates in the Maclennan Range of The Catlins in New Zealand. It continues through native bush for almost its entire length, including McLean Falls. Near its mouth at Tautuku Bay, just north of Tautuku Peninsula, the rive ...

Catlins The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southlan ...

Forest Park descend a number of steep drop offs and terraces, with the very top of the waterfall, where it meets its first waterpool being 22-metres. It then descends for many more metres over a series of terraces. The McLean Falls are often described as the most spectacular in the region. However, its sister waterfall

Purakaunui Falls The Purakaunui Falls are a cascading three-tiered waterfall on the Purakaunui River, in The Catlins of the southern South Island of New Zealand. As one of very few South Island waterfalls away from the alpine region, it has long been a popular ...

is more visited, due to it being more easily accessible. The entrance to the McLean Falls River Walk is three kilometres from the

Southern Scenic Route The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the ...

on Rewcastle Road. The track from the road to the falls passes through a variety of native forest and shrub types: Rimu, Kamahi,

divaricating Divaricate means branching, or having separation or a degree of separation. The angle between branches is wide. In botany In botany, the term is often used to describe the branching pattern of plants. Plants are said to be divaricating when the ...

shrubland, huge tree fuchsia, stands of olearia and podocarp forest. A footbridge then crosses the subsidiary, Duckaday Creek, named by the early settler, Doug McLean, who used to bathe in it from time to time. The walk follows an easy grade along the

valley with views of the river and bush. The path, including boardwalks and footbridges, is maintained by the Department of Conservation McLean Falls
Department of Conservation and is regularly gravelled.

References

Waterfalls of New Zealand The Catlins Landforms of Otago Clutha District {{waterfall-stub