Okere Falls, Bay of Plenty Map

About Okere Falls, Bay of Plenty

Okere Falls is a locality in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. It is a small community with a population of 381. It sits at an elevation of around 293 m above sea level. It lies approximately 56 km west of Whakatane, the regional capital. Okere Falls is located at 38.0170°S, 176.3451°E. It observes New Zealand Time (NZST/NZDT). Statistics New Zealand classifies the area as a rural settlement.

Okere Falls shimmers with a quiet, inland beauty, its character shaped by the generous embrace of Lake Rotoiti, a vast expanse of deep, cool water just a stone's throw away. It lies 16.1 km north-north-east of Rotorua (from Rotorua: bearing 33°T), and is situated 14.7 km east-north-east of Ngongotaha. The landscape here is a symphony of undulating hills, cloaked in shades of emerald and ochre, their slopes often carved into neat paddocks where livestock graze contentedly. The air itself carries a subtle, earthy scent, a blend of damp soil and the sweet perfume of native bush that presses in from the surrounding countryside. Beyond the immediate environs of the settlement, the land rolls onward, a testament to the volcanic origins of the region, hinting at the forces that shaped this verdant corner of the Bay of Plenty.

The story of Okere Falls is intrinsically linked to the Kaituna River, a vital artery that flows with a purpose, eventually surrendering its waters to the expansive Lake Rotoiti. For generations, this locality has drawn life from the land and the water, its economy historically tethered to the bounty of the surrounding farms and the potential of its waterways. While not a bustling metropolis, Okere Falls possesses a distinct identity, a place where the rhythm of daily life moves with a gentle, unhurried cadence, punctuated by the distant rush of the very falls that lend the settlement its name. This is a region where the legacy of the past is not forgotten, yet the present is lived with a quiet appreciation for the natural world that provides both sustenance and solace.

About This Okere Falls Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Okere Falls, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand at coordinates -38.01703, 176.34507. Use the Map and Satellite buttons to switch views, the plus and minus buttons to zoom, and Fullscreen to fill the screen.

Search Maps opens a second, independent map with four things the embedded map cannot do. It searches OpenStreetMap for any New Zealand town, suburb or landmark by name. It offers LINZ topographic maps as a base layer — the official Topo250 and Topo50 sheets, switching scale automatically as you zoom, and the standard reference for tramping, hunting and back-country travel. It offers LINZ aerial imagery down to 5cm resolution in urban areas. And it can take a single GPS fix from your device and report your position as both an NZTM2000 grid reference and plain latitude and longitude — the grid reference being what New Zealand search and rescue services work from. Map tiles require mobile coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map itself cannot load.

My Location & Navigate starts the vector-tile navigator: live turn-by-turn driving directions from your current position to any destination, with spoken guidance, lane hints and automatic re-routing.

Live weather conditions with current observations and a 7-day forecast are powered by Open-Meteo. Real-time New Zealand and world news feeds keep the page current, while an editorial description provides background on Okere Falls.

Okere Falls sits within the Bay of Plenty Region. Location data is drawn from the GeoNames geographical database and verified by coordinates, ensuring the correct Okere Falls is identified even where the name is shared across multiple New Zealand localities.