Police were called to Whangarei Falls after a visitor reported seeing a child's limb floating in a pool.
The man told police he had taken a photo of the leg from where he was standing on a bridge about 11.45am yesterday.
When he magnified the photo on the back of the camera it looked like a child's foot.
A police officer scrambled down the rocks and recovered the leg and it was established to be from a baby doll.