The Aropaoanui (Awapawanui) river runs through northern

Hawke's Bay Region Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

in the eastern North Island of New Zealand.

Etymology

Aropaoanui is a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

word which roughly translates to 'big smoke'. In local myth, the area was named when the local tribe were roasting their captives on a fire after a victory in battle. The fatty pulp around the kidneys of their victims began to bubble, giving the impression that the victims were still alive, which terrified the tribespeople.

Geography

The upper part of the river, above its junction with the Mairau Stream, is called the Waikoau River, a name also given to a river in the South Island. The Waikoua rises from streams on the Maungaharuru Range, running generally south-southeastwards, flowing through steep-sided gullies. It is joined by a tributary, the Mahiaruhe Stream, which is the main outflow of

Lake Tūtira Lake Tūtira is a body of water in north-eastern Hawke's Bay in New Zealand. Much of the area was surveyed by Herbert Guthrie-Smith, who farmed 60,000 acres (240 km²) surrounding the lake. Guthrie-Smith, a naturalist, published the popular ...

, also known as Tūtira Stream where it leaves the lake, after which it continues south along the lake's western flank.NZ Topo Map
''www.topomap.co.nz''. Retrieved 13 October 2023. South of the lake, the river is crossed by State Highway 2 before veering eastward, joining with the Mairau Stream to become the Aropaoanui. It continues through a steep-sided valley past the Tangoio Forest, reaching its narrow

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

just from the coast. Some small farms dot the upper part of the floodplain, accessed by a

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

road which meets the Napier–

Wairoa Wairoa is a town and territorial authority district in New Zealand's North Island. The town is the northernmost in the Hawke's Bay region, and is located on the northern shore of Hawke Bay at the mouth of the Wairoa River and to the west o ...

highway. The river empties into

Hawke Bay Hawke Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui), formerly named ''Hawke's Bay'', is a large bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, surrounded by the Hawke's Bay region. It stretches from Māhia Peninsula in the northeast to Cape Kidnap ...

, the waters joining the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, just north of the small settlements of Tangoio and

Waipātiki Beach Waipātiki Beach is a small coastal village in the Hastings District and Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is situated in a little valley at the end of a road that branches off the main road from Napier to Gisborne ( SH 2) and ...

, some north of Napier.

Ecology

The Aropaoanui has been described as one of the cleanest rivers in New Zealand by the Department of Conservation (only phosphorus levels are in the category of worst 25% of rivers and the river has

longfin The longfins, also known as roundheads or spiny basslets, are a family, Plesiopidae, which were formerly placed in the order Perciformes but are now regarded as being ''incertae sedis'' in the subseries Ovalentaria in the clade Percomorpha. They ...

and shortfin eels, koura, inanga, torrent fish, blue gill bully,

common bully The common bully (''Gobiomorphus cotidianus''), or toitoi (Māori), is a fish endemic to New Zealand, and is present throughout the country. There are three other bully species that can be confused with common bullies. There are few characterist ...

redfin bully The redfin bully (''Gobiomorphus huttoni'') is a species of freshwater fish in the family Eleotridae endemic to New Zealand. Being amphidromous, it spends part of its life cycle at sea. Males have distinctive bright red patterns and stripes on t ...

, banded kōkopu and pātiki), and is fished for many species including

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

and

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine- ...

History

Floods in 1938 swept away the bridge on the Napier-Wairoa section of State Highway 2. The area around the river was also badly affected by floods in 2022.

References

{{coord, 39, 16, 45, S, 177, 00, 00, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of the Hawke's Bay Region Rivers of New Zealand