Awapoko River is an estuary, almost long, where the Aurere and Parapara Streams merge before entering

Doubtless Bay Doubtless Bay is a bay on the east coast of the Northland Region, north-east of Kaitaia, in New Zealand. It extends from Knuckle Point on Karikari Peninsula in the north to Berghan Point at Hihi in the south. There are rocky headlands, backed by ...

in the Northland Region of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Ngāti Kahu Ngāti Kahu is a Māori iwi of Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of the six Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. Ngāti Kahu take their name from their founding ancestress, Kahutianui, and link their ancestry back to the wak ...

had lived in the area for about 700 years until most of their land was sold under government pressure in the 1850s. The present land use is predominantly a mix of agriculture, forestry, housing along SH10, indigenous vegetation and sand-dunes.

Spotless crake The spotless crake (''Zapornia tabuensis'') is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is widely distributed species occurring from the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia, across the southern Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas Islands a ...

, banded rail, bittern and herons live in the estuary. Despite court action in 2011, a 2016 report said the Aurere Stream "stands out in particular as having degraded water quality". Construction of Kupe Waka Centre, begun by Hector Busby, on the banks of the river, started in 2014. The small, steep sided Puketu Island is in the bay just to the east of the river mouth.

References

{{coord, -34.984089, 173.424082, region:NZ-NTL_type:river, display=title Far North District Rivers of the Northland Region Rivers of New Zealand