Kerosene Creek
Kerosene Creek
4.5
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience nearby attractions
Are you currently on your trip?
Help us find experiences available for you.
The area
Address
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
1 within 5 kms
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
452 reviews
Excellent
281
Very good
128
Average
28
Poor
5
Terrible
10
These reviews have been automatically translated from their original language.
This service may contain translations provided by Google. Google disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to translations, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from forgery.
andreasam91
Auckland Central, New Zealand2,957 contributions
Dec 2024 • Couples
We stayed here on the advice of a colleague, I know comes after a bit of dirt road and a 5 minute walk. Small waterfall and two pools of water at 35 degrees wonderful. It's a little hard to get in but once inside you wouldn't want to go out. If you like adventure it is an attraction for you
Automatically translated
Written 13 December 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alison H
Wellington, New Zealand15 contributions
Jan 2024 • Family
This is one of my favourite places - hot water in a creek, free, beautiful setting, it’s so lovely! The kids were fascinated and loved it. It’s proper hot, a bit too hot for a summers day to be honest. There’s quite a bit of shade though.
It’s a place that’s actively trying to keep visitors numbers low, so the facilities are non-existent. The path is muddy and full of roots so go on a dry day. It’s worth keeping on walking till you get to the pool beside the waterfall. It’s quite a drop to get to the main pool, we had to help the kids down, but there are easier to access places that are the right depth for sitting in.
Risks - the car park is known for theft, so beware. And don’t put your head in the water or get the water in your mouth, nose or eyes as the stream can be germy.
There are no toilets or changing rooms, but don’t let that put you off!
It’s a place that’s actively trying to keep visitors numbers low, so the facilities are non-existent. The path is muddy and full of roots so go on a dry day. It’s worth keeping on walking till you get to the pool beside the waterfall. It’s quite a drop to get to the main pool, we had to help the kids down, but there are easier to access places that are the right depth for sitting in.
Risks - the car park is known for theft, so beware. And don’t put your head in the water or get the water in your mouth, nose or eyes as the stream can be germy.
There are no toilets or changing rooms, but don’t let that put you off!
Written 17 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stopticklingmeplease
Whanganui, New Zealand173 contributions
Jan 2021 • Friends
It’s been a little while since I have been here and it was wonderful to come back and visit again. However saying that, it is now a bit crowded and in some places a lot of rubbish lying around, it was a bit disappointing. Good to see that there is a toilet here now even if it is the good old Kiwi long drop.
Written 9 January 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Danen D
1 contribution
Mar 2024 • Couples
If you’ve read the reviews thus far it is what it is. Unmaintained local, free geothermal stream with a waterfall feature. If you close your eyes this could be a great place. I felt dirty and needed to shower as soon as I was back to the hotel. There is definitely garbage and miss-strewn garments all over. I found a hidden area downstream
To find an empty 6 pack of beer bottles nestled in the bush on the edge of the shore. The floating foam is brownish in color so as you look about at the trash and smell the sulfur you cant help but consider to be swimming in a cesspool of human debris. Even though the water flows well and is warm, I did not feel
Comfortable at all even though others were bathing freely about. We wore water shoes and would highly recommend footwear due to the amount of discarded trash and glass around. The longer I stayed the grosser I felt. We found several other spots to venture into the warm geothermal waters that were much cleaner and less occupied. If you want the free experience then give it a whirl but I would pass next time and leave it for the locals.
To find an empty 6 pack of beer bottles nestled in the bush on the edge of the shore. The floating foam is brownish in color so as you look about at the trash and smell the sulfur you cant help but consider to be swimming in a cesspool of human debris. Even though the water flows well and is warm, I did not feel
Comfortable at all even though others were bathing freely about. We wore water shoes and would highly recommend footwear due to the amount of discarded trash and glass around. The longer I stayed the grosser I felt. We found several other spots to venture into the warm geothermal waters that were much cleaner and less occupied. If you want the free experience then give it a whirl but I would pass next time and leave it for the locals.
Written 4 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jkms0316
New Zealand63 contributions
Jan 2021 • Family
Nice natural hot pool with an easy quick walk to the stream from the car park. The area is filthy though!! Rubbish, used diapers, toilet paper and likely human waste. Toilets at car park are disgustingly unusable.
Written 18 January 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
charmainev348
Christchurch, New Zealand61 contributions
Jan 2020
While I had read it was a secret spot obviously everyone had read the same review. It is beautiful but you will need to share it with lots of people on a good day. I got to watch a girl getting a photo taken at least 100 times beside the waterfall. Not really any places to change so keep that in mind.
Written 7 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ctoneill
70 contributions
Nov 2023 • Friends
Certainly a must do but be prepared! If it’s raining it’s very cold getting back t9 the carpark as there are no shelters. Can’t take any gear with you, no shelters or storage. It’s a beautiful, natural experience but ya just gotta rough it a bit 👍🏽💪
Written 7 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jeremy A
Auckland, New Zealand81 contributions
Jan 2020 • Friends
The road is getting a bit rough these days but it’s not a long dirt stretch, just drive to the conditions. The water was a lot hotter that normal this time but that just made it better. Kerosine creek is my favourite place in New Zealand.
Written 11 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ashley Pruitt
Salt Lake City, UT121 contributions
Jan 2020 • Couples
Highly recommend doing if you’re in the area! A quick one mile down a gravel road and you’ve landed at a beautiful creek with hot water. We went on a Friday afternoon and practically had the place to ourselves which I was shocked about! The water was definitely hot. Would be nice to go on a cool evening but not during the heat of the day. We only stayed 15-20 minutes but nice to feel away from the tourist traps for a little bit!
Written 23 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Warren Turner
12 contributions
Dec 2020 • Family
We visited Kerosene Creek 5 years ago and it was amazing. This time around I was shocked to see how much litter there was all over. The track from the car park to the river was littered with baby nappies, human faeces and toilet paper. At the waterfall area there was an old dumped couch with lots of beer bottles and can everywhere.
It just felt dirty and was a let down.
It just felt dirty and was a let down.
Written 30 December 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi, can we reach the creek with a camper?
Written 11 December 2018
Yes. A camper can should easily reach the creek. There is a car park but be sure not to leave valuables in it as the car park is targeted very often by thieves. It happened in broad daylight while it was very busy while I was there late December 2018.
Written 27 December 2018
Yes where the location and how to get there .Thank
Written 21 August 2016
You better drive and follow your google map or rental GPS will do.
Written 22 August 2016
Showing results 1-4 of 4
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Sponsored by Tourism New Zealand
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing