The Makatote River is a river of the centre 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 ...

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. It flows west from the slopes of

Mount Ruapehu Mount Ruapehu (; ) is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupō Volcanic Zone and North Island volcanic plateau in New Zealand. It is northeast of Ohakune and southwest of the southern shore of Lake Taupō, within the Tongari ...

, and from the

Hauhungatahi Hauhungatahi is an eroded volcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand, located about WNW of Mount Ruapehu. Although relatively little-known, at Hauhungatahi is one of the highest volcanoes in New Zealand, exceeded in ...

Wilderness Area, before entering rough hill country, veering southwest and entering a gorge cut almost into the volcanic rocks. It joins with the waters of several smaller streams to become the

Manganui o te Ao River The Manganuioteao River (official name since 22 August 1985, also known as Manganui o te Ao River and shown on older maps as Manganuiateau River) is a river of the centre of New Zealand's North Island. It has its source in numerous streams and s ...

, part of the

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...

system. The river is part of a

water conservation order A water conservation order is a legal ruling to protect aspects of water bodies. It may be to protect the quantity of the water itself or for any issues relating to the water body as a whole. New Zealand In New Zealand, a Water Conservation Order i ...

catchment to protect indigenous fish including

lamprey Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are an ancient extant lineage of jawless fish of the order Petromyzontiformes , placed in the superclass Cyclostomata. The adult lamprey may be characterized by a toothed, funnel-like s ...

, longfinned eel,

short-finned eel The short-finned eel (''Anguilla australis''), also known as the shortfin eel, is one of the 15 species of eel in the family Anguillidae. It is native to the lakes, dams and coastal rivers of south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and much of th ...

, common smelt, banded kokopu, short-jawed kokopu, koaro,

torrentfish The torrentfish (''Cheimarrichthys fosteri''), or panoko (Māori), is an amphidromous freshwater fish that is endemic to New Zealand. Torrentfish are well adapted to life in shallow, fast-flowing riffles and rapids. They grow to a maximum of in ...

, redfinned 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 ...

, and Cran's bully. Trees in the gorge include rimu, matai and maire. The main trees logged were rimu, matai, kahikatea, totara and miro. The lowest of the river is monitored for its whio population. A proposal to create a track to Te Kohatu waterfall was rejected as being inappropriate for a wilderness area. The river is spanned by the third largest

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

in the country, which is high. SH4 (originally built by the railway for access to its construction sites) crosses on a much lower bridge near the viaduct. Just to the north of the viaduct, the Makatote Tramway has a Category 2 listing by the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

, with remnants of rails, skid sites, a log hauler, water pits and bogie wheels. In the 1930s Western Red Cedar and Lawson's Cypress were planted near the tramway by the State Forests Service as part of a wider experimental high-altitude planting programme.

Japanese Cedar ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a Monotypic taxon, monotypic genus of Pinophyta, conifer in the cypress family (biology), family Cupressaceae, formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeri ...

Douglas Fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

, Ponderous Pine,

Weymouth Pine ''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland, Canada west ...

and

Sugar Pine ''Pinus lambertiana'' (commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine) is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name ''lambertiana'' was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, ...

were also considered for the experiment.

References

{{reflist

External links

* Te Kohat
waterfall in 1908

location on 1:50,000 mapon Panoramiotramping route description

Tramway photos on Facebookmap of tramway
Rivers of Manawatū-Whanganui Rivers of New Zealand

See also

References

External links