Call for action to stop a waterfall tragedy

Luke Gilling (right) and friends trekked the path at Omanawa. Photo/Andrew Warner

A tragedy has been predicted if Tauranga City Council does not do more to stop people risking their lives to reach the bottom of the scenic Omanawa Falls.

Geoff Nijhuis, caretaker of the adjacent Omanawa Falls underground power station, feared the next person to fall would go home in a body bag.

He was responding to Saturday's accident in which a 38-year-old man and his 12-year-old son were badly injured when they fell down a steep hillside trying to get around the locked metal door at the top of the tunnel that led to the powerhouse.

Mr Nijhuis was at the scene of the accident and spoke to the man's other son, who told him his father and brother were leaving the falls when they came to grief.

They had decided to take a shortcut by climbing up to the viewing platform at the entrance to the power station and then going up the tunnel to the metal gate, he said. There was a little portal by the door, which they climbed through, emerging at a rock face. As they were straddling the bluff to get around the door, the boy slipped and they both fell as the father reached to stop him.

Powerhouse operator Michael Davis said the council had unsuccessfully tried to prevent people accessing the falls via the track around the top by the station's intake, but they had cut through the fence and thrown away the no-trespass sign.

The most dangerous part of the access over the top was a 70-degree slope ending with a 12-metre fall on to rocks. "There is no easy way into the falls."

Mr Davis noticed a big increase in people swimming at the falls once a YouTube clip showed people how to get there.

Mr Nijhuis said the council needed to prosecute someone for trespassing and give them a hefty fine. Student Luke Gilling made the trek down to the falls on the same day as the accident, saying it was a rough walk.

His younger brother had told him the path to take if the tunnel to the powerhouse was closed, "which it always is", but it was still tricky to find the way down.

On the first attempt they took a wrong turn and found themselves at a dead-end at the top of a cliff.

He believed the falls were an attraction growing in popularity but the track was certainly not visitor-friendly.

"If the tunnel was open it would probably take about one minute to get to where you want to go," Mr Gilling said.

DANGEROUS: The damaged gate on the path to Omanawa Falls.