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Aratiatia, Central North Island, Taupo
3 Reviews
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Taupo's best free attraction, Aratiatia Rapids. Watch the dam open and flood the Aratiatia Rapids.13km from Central Taupo,opens 4 times a day in Summer

Products and specialities

Waterfall
Visitor attraction

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On a good, sunny, dry winter day, the Aratiatia Rapids are a sigh to look out for. Get there at the right time and a powerful burst of water will burst through the dam gates. I love that it’s free - all I need to do is park up on the roadside and wait for the gates to open. It’s also a good place to take restless kids during the winter school holidays.

    Anyone visiting Taupo absolutely must go out to the Aratiatia Rapids. A fab 28m waterfall is created when the Aratiatia dam gates open - it's actually pretty spectacular. I've seen it many times, but it never gets old. I'm always awed by the sheer power of the water pumping out once the gates are opened.

      I often find myself playing tour guide for friends and family. The Aratiatia Rapids are one of my stops. When the dam gates of the Waikato River are opened a few times a day, the rapids are formed (I usually go for the 4pm spectacular). Most people have already seen them before - they were used in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But seeing it in real life is always better. It dones't cost a cent, is only a few minutes from the Town Centre and I never get tired of watching the rapids form. Aratiatia Dam To view the Aratiatia Rapids gradually filling up, make sure you arrive a few minutes before the dam is due to release and make your way to one of the lookout points on the high rock bluffs that overlook this turbulent stretch of river. At the Aratiatia Rapids, the Waikato River falls 28 metres in the space of one kilometre and the surging rapids have been harnessed for environmentally sustainable hydroelectric power.

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