One of the country's most photographed waterfalls is experiencing a dry spell.
The Purakaunui Falls, in the Catlins, is bearing the brunt of a lack of recent rain in the area and its usual spectacular water flow is suffering.
Finlay Abernethy, of Owaka, has kept rainfall records in the area since the early 1960s and confirmed its rainfall was well down on previous years.
Annual rainfall was usually between 1000mm and 1200mm, but last year was ''very dry'' with only 805mm falling. Last month about 40mm fell, which was well down on the usual 70mm-80mm for the month, he said.
Mr Abernethy, immediate past-president for the northern part of the area covered by Catlins Promotions, said unusually dry conditions could affect ''the flow of the water over the falls'' but the falls area itself remained attractive to visitors, even during relatively low flows.
''People just enjoy getting out of their cars and walking through the forest.''
Water levels were cyclical and could well rise next month.
''We want people to come and visit [the Catlins] and we want them to stay.''
Otago Daily Times journalist John Fridd, who visited the area on New Year's Day, was ''disappointed at the spectacle'', which had resulted from lower flows in the Purakaunui River.
''It's the lowest I've ever seen, but it does go up and down.''
In the past, some admiring onlookers had compared the full-flowing waterfall to a ''bridal veil'' as it fell 20m, through three tiers, he said.
The Catlins New Zealand, a Catlins community internet site, ranks the Purakaunui Falls in second place, behind only Nugget Point, among the area's attractions.
The falls are in the Purakaunui Falls Scenic Reserve, 17km south of Owaka, and are reached via a 10-minute walk through ''impressive podocarp and beech forest''.
