Qualla: Kitekite Falls

Kitekite Falls: Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Te Kawerau a Maki elder Rewi Spraggon believes the waterfall's true name is Ketekete, a word for the clicking sound warriors made before an ambush. Somewhere in the transfer from spoken Maori to written English, the name shifted to Kitekite, and then sometimes to Kitakita. The confusion suits a place that keeps revealing itself in stages. From the lookout on the Kitekite Track, you see white water cascading over rocks into pools, dropping through three tiers that span 40 metres of near-vertical descent. But the total drop from the upper swimming hole to the base runs closer to 80 metres, a fact hidden by the angle of the valley and the dense bush that crowds every ledge.

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Kitekite Falls: Two Names, Two Histories

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carpenter0 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The stream that feeds the falls carries a Scottish name grafted onto a Maori landscape. William Stockwell emigrated from Scotland in 1876 and bought land above the waterfall shortly after arriving. He called the area Glen Esk: "glen" from Gaelic meaning valley, "esk" from a Celti...

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Image: Carpenter0 at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kitekite Falls: The Kauri That Were Taken

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carpenter0 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. From 1910, loggers milled kauri from the slopes surrounding Kitekite Falls. The Piha Mill operated downstream at what is now Stedfast Park, and in 1911 Ebenezer Gibbons built the Glen Esk Dam at the top of the falls to propel logs downstream. The plan failed spectacularly. The dr...

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Image: Carpenter0 at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kitekite Falls: Through the Forest to the Falls

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The Kitekite Track begins at the end of Glenesk Road and follows the stream through nikau palms and silver tree ferns. Tui call from above. Puriri trees dangle red berries that draw kereru, the native wood pigeon, whose wingbeats are heavy enough to hear from the track below. The...

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Kitekite Falls: The Rahui and the Recovery

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sonia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Kauri dieback disease, caused by a water mould that kills kauri of all ages, prompted Te Kawerau a Maki to place a rahui over parts of the Waitakere Ranges, a traditional Maori prohibition that restricts access to protect a threatened resource. Working with the Waitakere Ranges L...

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Image: Sonia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kitekite Falls: Rappelling the Rare Moss

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carpenter0 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Commercial canyoning operators run guided descents of the falls under permits issued by Auckland Council. Participants rappel down the wet rock faces, through the spray, past the same ledges where the rare moss clings to damp stone. The permit system has been contentious since at...

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Image: Carpenter0 at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0