The Ngaruroro River is located in the eastern

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 ...

of New Zealand. It runs for a total of 164 kilometres southeast from the

Kaweka Range The Kaweka Range (also known as the ''Kaweka Ranges'') of mountains is located in inland Hawke's Bay in the eastern North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) of New Zealand. It forms part of the mountainous spine of the North Island which extends from Welli ...

Kaimanawa Range The Kaimanawa Range of mountains (often known as the ''Kaimanawas'') is located in the central North Island of New Zealand. They extend for 50 kilometres in a northeast/southwest direction through largely uninhabited country to the south of Lake T ...

and

Ruahine Range The Ruahine Range is the largest of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand that form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington. The ridge is at its most pronounced from the cen ...

and then east before emptying 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 ...

roughly halfway between the cities of Napier and

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, near the town of

Clive Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include: People Given name * Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player * Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister * ...

(drainage area above Tutaekuri River confluence). The river is mostly a single-thread channel down to Whanawhana ( from the coast), flowing through a greywacke rock gorge. Below Whanawhana, the river opens to wide braided channel and is joined by the Maraekakaho River. The Ngaruroro shares a river mouth with the Tutaekuri, Clive River and Muddy Creek. The meeting of these rivers forms the Waitangi Estuary. The Ngaruroro is one of several rivers that helped form the

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

Heretaunga Plains :''There are two places in New Zealand called Heretaunga. For the suburb of Upper Hutt, see Heretaunga, Wellington.'' The Heretaunga Plains is a alluvial plain at the southern end of Hawke Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zeala ...

at the south end of the coast of Hawke Bay. The course of the Ngaruroro has changed several times, originally flowing down what is now the Clive River. It changed to much of its present course in 1867 during a major flood. In 1969, the bottom of river was diverted more directly to the coast (near Pakowhai Road) in an effort to reduce flooding. The Karamu and Clive remain as rivers, but drain a smaller catchment. About 40% of the catchment is pasture, and 55% native forest. The upper Ngaruroro drains the

Kaweka Forest Park Kaweka Forest Park is in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand, adjacent to Kaimanawa Forest Park. This region of the central North Island contains large tracts of pine plantations, some of them also within the park, and as a consequence, invasi ...

and it is used for trout fishing (mostly rainbow), rafting,

tramping Tramping may refer to: Travel *Hiking *Trekking *Tramping in New Zealand, a style of backpacking or hiking * Czech tramping, a Czech outdoors pastime Places * Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380, Saskatchewan, Canada ** Tramping Lake, Sas ...

and deer hunting. The Ngaruroro River recharges freshwater to the Heretaunga groundwater aquifer (in the order of ). This aquifer feeds several streams in the area (e.g. Raupare, Irongate), in addition to pumping that supports extensive orchards of the

. Eventually the aquifer discharges to the sea in submarine springs some off the coast.Grant, P.J. 1965. The groundwaters of the Heretaunga Plains - the Ngaruroro River as a major recharge source. Journal of Hydrology (N.Z.) Vol. 4:65-80; http://www.hydrologynz.org.nz/downloads/JoHNZ_1965_v4_2_Grant.pdf The meaning of Ngaruroro is obscure.

References

Rivers of the Hawke's Bay Region Rivers of New Zealand {{HawkesBay-river-stub