The Little Grey River, also known as the Māwheraiti is a river of the

West Coast Region The West Coast ( mi, Te Tai Poutini, lit=The Coast of Poutini, the Taniwha) is a region of New Zealand on the west coast of the South Island that is administered by the West Coast Regional Council, and is known co-officially as Te Tai Poutini. ...

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 ...

. It is a major tributary of the Grey River / Māwheranui which it joins at Ikamatua. The Little Grey rises in low hills above the Inangahua valley, its source being only from the

Inangahua River The Inangahua River is located in the northwest of New Zealand’s South Island. It is a major tributary of the Buller River, which it joins at the town of Inangahua Junction. The Inangahua River begins near the Rahu Saddle and flows northwest f ...

. It flows generally southwest, crossing the Maimai plain and the Ikamatua plain. Both State Highway 7 and the

Stillwater–Ngākawau Line The Stillwater Ngākawau Line (SNL), formerly the Stillwater–Westport Line (SWL) and the Seddonville Branch, Ngakawau Branch, is a secondary main line, part of New Zealand's Rail transport in New Zealand, national rail network. It runs betwe ...

railway travel down the lower half of the river valley, crossing the river twice. The river has two large tributaries, the

Blackwater River A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black te ...

and the

Snowy River The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia. It originates on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mainland peak, draining the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, before flowing through the ...

, both of which flow from the east.New Zealand 1:50000 Topographic Map series sheet BT21 – Waiuta On the left bank for the lower there are extensive tailings mounds resulting from gold dredging operations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1946, both the highway and railway were temporarily closed while the dredge dug its way through to its new mining area in the Blackwater Valley. This was the first and only time that such an event has occurred in New Zealand.

References

Rivers of the West Coast, New Zealand Rivers of New Zealand {{WestCoastNZ-river-stub