The Kaipara River drains the area to the northwest of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. It flows north from the northern foothills of the

Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. The area, traditionally kno ...

, meandering past the town of

Helensville Helensville is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is sited northwest of Auckland, close to the southern extremity of the Kaipara Harbour. New Zealand State Highway 16, State Highway 16 passes through the town, connecting it to Waimauk ...

. It is joined by the

Kaukapakapa River The Kaukapakapa River is a river of New Zealand's North Island. It flows west, reaching the southernmost point of the Kaipara Harbour close to the town of Helensville. The small township of Kaukapakapa lies on the banks of the river, some from i ...

in its lower tidal reaches shortly before entering the southern

Kaipara Harbour Kaipara Harbour is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex on the north western side of the North Island of New Zealand. The northern part of the harbour is administered by the Kaipara District and the southern part is administered by the Auckl ...

. Other major tributaries are the Ararimu, Ahukuramu, Waimauku and Waipatukahu streams. The area around the river was historically occupied by the

Te Taoū Te Taoū is a Māori iwi (tribe) of Northland and the Auckland Region in New Zealand. Together with Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei, it comprises the iwi (tribe) of Ngāti Whātua. The four iwi can act together or separately ...

hapu of

Ngāti Whātua Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te ...

in the lower catchment near present-day Helensville, and by

Te Kawerau ā Maki Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Kawerau a Maki, or Te Kawerau-a-Maki is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It had 251 registered adult members as of June 2017. Auckland Council gave it land for a marae at Te Henga (Bethells Be ...

in the upper sections near

Kumeū Kumeū is an affluent rural town and suburb of Auckland situated 25 km north-west of the City Centre in New Zealand. State Highway 16 and the North Auckland Line pass through the town. Huapai lies to the west, Riverhead to the north, When ...

. During European settlement in the latter 19th century, the course of the river was altered to better use the river to float timber for milling at Helensville. The river water is brown, as it is rich in sediments washed in from the soft Miocene to Quaternary sediments within its catchment.

References

Rivers of the Auckland Region Rivers of New Zealand Kaipara Harbour catchment {{Auckland-river-stub