About | Upper Nihotupu Dam
1.5 – 2 hours return
There are five dams that supply Auckland with fresh drinking water, the Upper Nihotupu Dam is one of the two that are located along the Nihotupu Stream.
This is a pretty cool track, going through native bush, past three beautiful waterfalls, to the top of the Nihotupu Dam, across some old tramlines, to a picnic area and then down to the base of the dam. There’s just so much to see. It’s a well maintained and easy walk to do, making it a fantastic walk for the whole family. There is an old toilet ten minutes into the walk.
Nearby
Location
Photos
First waterfall
I was pretty impressed with this walk. In just the first part, we were rewarded with not one but three waterfalls. They were a real treat. If your kids don’t want to walk all the way to the dam, the waterfalls would still be worth it.
This waterfall had a few pools of water at the top, the boys really enjoyed floating their boat in them.
We heard it from a while away, Ash couldn’t wait to check it out!
The second waterfall was really nice. It was the tallest one out of all tree and the kids loved clambering along the rocks and across the stream to the other side.
We weren’t too sure if we would make it to the dam, there were rain clouds threatening above and it rained off and on. But finally, the sun peaked out of the clouds and it stopped raining for long enough for us to make it to the dam.
Carrying on, we headed downwards.
Tramlines!
Sheltered picnic area
We really enjoyed this walk, the highlight was seeing the waterfalls and also walking along the tramlines!
