I’ve lived in Dunedin my whole life and yet I’ve never been to Nicols Falls until just recently – which is crazy as it’s just minutes from the city! It’s such an impressive waterfall and beautiful walking area…. which at night it turns into one of the most stunning glow worm experiences in New Zealand. I love a good waterfall, so over the school holidays we decided to go on a bit of an adventure to find Nicols Falls.
Nicols Falls: How to get there
Nicols Falls and Nicols Creek are about ten minutes from the city and relatively easy to find. Head North along George Street, before turning left up Duke Street. Stay on this road as it changes into Malvern Street, and then Leith Valley Road. There is a small one lane bridge, and there you will see a sign for Nicols Falls. There is a turning and parking area on the other side of the road, just up from the bridge – enough for 5 or 6 cars to park easily.
Once parked, you want to cross back over the bridge and go in where there is a small wooden sign for Glow worms and Nicols Falls. It’s a rather wide track with a gate across it. On the other side of the bridge there is another track that is much smaller – this is a MTB track and not where you want to be!
It’s a bit of a climb over the moss covered rocks to get to the waterfall base – but well worth the scramble!
Nicols Falls Waterfall Walk
The first part of the track is relatively simple with a small incline. Part way up the track it splits in two; you can either carry on straight ahead to reach the glow worm dell and Nicols Creek (around a 5 minute easy walk), or take a left at the sign and head up towards the waterfall. The walk to the waterfall is uphill and rather steep in parts. The track can be a bit rocky in parts too, and if it had been raining , I’d definitely suggest wearing good shoes!
As you get closer to the waterfall, the track starts to narrow out a bit and there are parts that have slipped away. It’s around here that you definitely have to watch smaller children as it’s a straight drop down off the path! Not long after this part, you round the corner and there is the waterfall.
The main viewing area for the falls is quite far away, so to get a better view I highly recommend crossing the creek and climbing over the rocks on the right hand side of the creek. It’s relatively easy to climb over the rocks to get right up to the base of the falls – we even managed to get Jack up this part (with us helping him and lifting him a bit!). If you can make the rock scramble, it’s absolutely worth it as being at the base of these falls is so magical. You can feel the sheer power and wind coming off the waterfall, as it powers down with such force and it’s truely awe inspiring. Being right up close to the waterfall also allows you to get further into the creek gorge and the sheer stone walls and mossy sides make it really spectacular!
Nicols Creek
Once you are finished at the falls, it’s well worth going back down the path and then turning left to do the short (5 minute) walk up to where the Nicols Creek glow worm dell is located. It is incredibly pretty up here, with the fern and moss lined walls and the gentle noise of the creek. You can walk up past the cliff and handrail area and across the stream. At night this area is lit up with hundreds of little glow worms – well worth the night time adventure! Afterwards its a short and easy track downhill and back to the car.
Nicols Creek – at night these fern and moss covered walls are lit up with glow worms!
Nicols Falls – What you need to know
- Located: Leith Valley Road, Dunedin
- Google Directions: Search Nicols Falls MTB Track on Google Maps for correct directions.
- Track Length: 1.9km
- Track difficulty: Easy with some steep climbs
- Approx time: 15-20 mins to reach the waterfall.
- Good for kids? Totally, they will need to be able to walk/climb though, or be carried in a pack.
