Waipunga Falls

The Waipunga River is a tributary of the

Mohaka River The Mohaka river is on the North Island of New Zealand in the east central region of Hawke’s Bay. Mohaka is a Maori word, roughly translated it means “place for dancing”. The iwi (Māori tribes) associated with the Mohaka River are Ngāti ...

, located between

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town on the north-eastern shore of Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake, in the central North Island. It is the largest urban area of the Taupō District, and the second-largest urban area in the Wai ...

and Napier in New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. It runs roughly 50 km from its source near the eastern edge of the

Volcanic Plateau A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanic activity. There are two main types: lava plateaus and pyroclastic plateaus. Lava plateau Lava plateaus are formed by highly fluid basaltic lava during numerous successive eruptions throu ...

to its junction with the Mohaka, of which some 15 km follow alongside the Napier-Taupō highway ( State Highway 5). The scenic Waipunga Falls are visible from a rest stop along the highway. Rivers of the Hawke's Bay Region Rivers of New Zealand {{HawkesBay-river-stub