New Zealand 
In numbers.
May–Jul
Nov
Best months
97m
Elevation
The water at Matai Falls, month by month
It roars from April to July and from October to January.
The fullest months: from April to July and from October to January.
- 79%Jan
- 73%Feb
- 70%Mar
- 77%Apr
- 100%May
- 97%Jun
- 88%Jul
- 74%Aug
- 74%Sep
- 85%Oct
- 85%Nov
- 79%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to July and November.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
New Zealand waterfall
Matai Falls is a waterfall in New Zealand.
Getting there.
- Papatowainearest town · 7.0 km in a straight line
- Parking 960 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Dunedin International Airport (DUD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 84 km in a straight lineCar hire at DUD airport (Dunedin)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to July and Novemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What is around.
- 2viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- 1picnic sites
- —toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmMatai Falls, Horseshoe Falls
- —caves
- 1campsitesTawanui Campsite
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- —restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Papatowai7.0 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 18 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 17 |
| Night °C | 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 88 | 75 | 72 | 76 | 92 | 73 | 66 | 61 | 69 | 85 | 83 | 83 |
| Wet days | 15 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 7.3 | 6.9 | 5.6 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 6.6 | 7.1 | 7.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (97 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 57% | 163% | 85% | 92% | 21% | 63% | 142% | 97% | 142% | 107% | 61% | 90% |
| 2021 | 165% | 50% | 61% | 75% | 91% | 125% | 89% | 121% | 126% | 61% | 92% | 83% |
| 2022 | 46% | 88% | 21% | 98% | 90% | 89% | 210% | 80% | 79% | 86% | 85% | 69% |
| 2023 | 24% | 86% | 150% | 68% | 103% | 90% | 148% | 95% | 127% | 52% | 68% | 82% |
| 2024 | 98% | 107% | 129% | 113% | 69% | 113% | 109% | 87% | 140% | 175% | 97% | 104% |
| 2025 | 55% | 46% | 97% | 77% | 70% | 147% | 50% | 90% | 142% | 136% | 76% | 121% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Matai Falls
New Zealand
- —Height
- —Average flow
- May–Jul, NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q32271569) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
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Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Coming soonVisit 
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Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
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Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit 
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Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit