Roaring Billy Falls is a waterfall in

Mount Aspiring National Park Mount Aspiring National Park is in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, north of Fiordland National Park, situated in Otago and Westland regions. The park forms part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. History Moun ...

Westland District Westland District is a territorial authority district on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is administered by the Westland District Council. The district's population is History Westland was originally a part of Canterbury ...

, New Zealand. It is located in the

Haast River The Haast River / Awarua is a river on the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The Māori language, Māori name for the river is Awarua. It drains the western Drainage basin, watershed of the Haast Pass. The ...

valley, around inland from Haast, near Eighteen Mile Bluff on State Highway 6. The falls are a cascade on The Roaring Billy stream. The bottom of the cascade is at an elevation of around where it flows into the Haast River.

Viewing point and walkway

A viewing point is accessible via a walkway from the carpark on State Highway 6. The walkway is a gravel and boardwalk path that passes through silver beech and podocarp forest to the gravel bed of the Haast River where there is a view of the falls on the opposite side of the river. The forest understory along the walk has a dense growth of tree ferns.

Vegetation

The path to the viewing point passes through forest on a fertile alluvial terrace with a wide diversity of rainforest plants. The canopy consists of silver beech (''

Nothofagus menziesii ''Nothofagus menziesii'', commonly known as silver beech, is a species of evergreen tree in the family Nothofagaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand and is widespread in the North and South Islands. It reaches a height of up to tall, with a tr ...

''), southern rātā (''

Metrosideros umbellata ''Metrosideros umbellata'', the southern rātā, is a tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to or more tall with a trunk up to or more in diameter. It produces masses of red flowers in summer. Unlike its relative, northern rātā, this sp ...

'') and kāmahi (''

Weinmannia racemosa ''Pterophylla racemosa'', commonly known as the kāmahi, is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand. It is a member of the Cunoniaceae family of plants, and it is often referred to by its former botanical name ''Weinmannia racemosa.'' Most me ...

''), and a wide range of podocarps including miro (''

Prumnopitys ferruginea ''Pectinopitys ferruginea'', commonly known as miro or toromiro, is an evergreen coniferous tree which is endemic to New Zealand. Description It grows up to high, with a trunk up to 1.3 m diameter. The leaves are linear to sickle-shaped, 15� ...

''), mataī (''

Prumnopitys taxifolia ''Prumnopitys taxifolia'', the mataī () or black pine, is an endemic New Zealand coniferous tree that grows on the North Island and South Island. It also occurs on Stewart Island / Rakiura (47 °S) but is uncommon there. It grows up to high ...

''), kahikatea (''

Dacrycarpus dacrydioides ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of over a life span of 600 years. It was firs ...

''), rimu (''

Dacrydium cupressinum ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk up to in diameter. It is endemic to New Zealand ...

'') and Hall's tōtara (''

Podocarpus laetus ''Podocarpus laetus'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae, commonly known as Hall's tōtara, mountain tōtara or thin-barked tōtara. Previously known as ''Podocarpus hallii'' and ''Podocarpus cunninghamii'', in 2015 it was re ...

''). Beneath the canopy there is māhoe (''

Melicytus ramiflorus ''Melicytus ramiflorus'', commonly known as māhoe, is a small tree of the family Violaceae. It is endemic (ecology), endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 10 metres high with a trunk up to 60 cm in diameter, it has smooth, light bark a ...

''), patē (''

Schefflera digitata ''Schefflera digitata'', the patē, seven-finger, or umbrella tree, is a tree endemic to New Zealand belonging to the family Araliaceae. Māori names include: ''patē'', ''patatē'', ''patete'', and ''kōtētē''. It occurs in lowland to lower ...

''), mountain horopito (''

Pseudowintera colorata ''Pseudowintera colorata'', also known as mountain horopito or pepperwood, is a species of woody evergreen flowering trees and shrubs, part of family Winteraceae. The species is Endemism, endemic to New Zealand. All Winteraceae are magnoliids, a ...

''), wineberry (''

Aristotelia serrata ''Aristotelia serrata'', commonly known as wineberry or in the Māori language makomako or just mako, is a small tree in the family Elaeocarpaceae, in the genus '' Aristotelia'', found in the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island of New ...

''), tree fuchsia (''

Fuchsia excorticata ''Fuchsia excorticata'', commonly known as tree fuchsia, New Zealand fuchsia and by its Māori name , is a New Zealand native tree belonging to the family Onagraceae. It is commonly found throughout New Zealand and as far south as the Auckland ...

'') and '' Coprosma rotundifolia''. Tree ferns are abundant, mostly the soft tree fern ''(

Dicksonia antarctica ''Dicksonia antarctica'', the soft tree fern, Tasmanian Tree Fern or man fern, is a species of evergreen tree fern native to eastern Australia, ranging from south-east Queensland, coastal New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania. Anatomy and ...

'') and wheki - the rough tree fern (''

Dicksonia squarrosa ''Dicksonia squarrosa'', the New Zealand tree fern, whekī or rough tree fern, is a common tree fern endemic to New Zealand. It has a slender black trunk that is usually surrounded by many dead brown fronds. Description This species has a fas ...

''). There are also many smaller ferns including crown fern (''

Lomaria discolor ''Lomaria discolor'', synonym ''Blechnum discolor'', commonly called crown fern (Māori: piupiu), is a species of fern in the family Blechnaceae. This species is endemic to New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southw ...

''), hound's tongue fern (''

Cynoglossum officinale ''Cynoglossum officinale'' (houndstongue, houndstooth, dog's tongue, gypsy flower, and rats and mice due to its smell) is a herbaceous plant of the family Boraginaceae. Description It can be either annual or Biennial plant, biennial. Leaves ar ...

''), water fern (''

Ceratopteris thalictroides ''Ceratopteris thalictroides'' is a fern species belonging to the genus '' Ceratopteris'', one of only two genera of the subfamily Parkerioideae of the family Pteridaceae. Common names ''Ceratopteris thalictroides'' is commonly known as water ...

''), prickly shield fern ('' Polystichum vestitum''), drooping spleenwort (''

Asplenium flaccidum ''Asplenium flaccidum'' is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae. The plant common name is drooping spleenwort or weeping spleenwort, and the species name ''flaccidum'' derives from the Latin root meaning ''drooping''. The plant is also k ...

''), creek fern (''

Cranfillia fluviatilis ''Cranfillia fluviatilis'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Blechnum fluviatile'', is a fern known in the Māori language as kiwikiwi. A herbaceous plant, ''C. fluviatilis'' is a "hard fern" of the genus ''Cranfillia'' in the family Blechnacea ...

''), comb fern ('' Schizaea fistulosa''), crepe fern (''

Leptopteris hymenophylloides ''Leptopteris hymenophylloides'', which is commonly called single crepe fern is a fern in the family Osmundaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand at North Island: Northland, Auckland, Volcanic Plateau, Gisborne, Taranaki, Southern North Island. ...

''), Colenso's hard fern (or waterfall fern) ('' Austroblechnum colensoi'') and common strap fern (''

Notogrammitis billardierei ''Notogrammitis billardierei'', also known as the common finger-fern, or common strap fern, is a small epiphytic or lithophytic fern with small, strap like fronds, found commonly in wet forest in South-Eastern Australia and New Zealand. Descr ...

''). Some filmy ferns are also present.

References

External links

Roaring Billy Falls walk
at the

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Roaring Billy Falls
at the World of Waterfalls {{Authority control Waterfalls of New Zealand Mount Aspiring National Park Westland District Landforms of the West Coast Region

Viewing point and walkway

Vegetation

See also

References

External links