The Whakapapa River in

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 ...

forms from streams which trickle off the Whakapapa skifield 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 down the western slopes of the mountain. The river passes near Ōwhango, before finally merging with 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 natur ...

just east of Kakahi, about from where it starts, which is in a deep gorge, at the confluence of the Whakapapaiti and Whakapapanui Streams. Before construction of the

North Island Main Trunk Railway The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...

began in about 1904, most of the valley was a dense

podocarp Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pr ...

forest. In 1914 logging of the last sizeable west bank section of that bush began, near Oio. Peter McIntyre had a home near Kakahi overlooking the confluence of the Whanganui and Whakapapa rivers, and painted several oil landscapes of the Whakapapa River. After his death, the Whakapapa River undermined the white

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...

cliffs where his house was built and claimed the house as its own. Occasionally people kayak a stretch of the river from near Ōwhango () to near Kakahi (). When the river was high enough, kayaks went from the Whakapapa Intake to Ōwhango bridge. However, Intake Road was closed when a

Landcorp Landcorp Farming Limited ("Landcorp") is a state-owned enterprise of the New Zealand government. Its brand name is Pāmu, the Te Reo Māori word 'to farm'. Its core business is pastoral farming including dairy, sheep, beef and deer, as well ...

farm passed to Te Kotahitanga a

Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua ( Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North Is ...

on 1 July 2019. Herenga ā Nuku and Fish and Game have since been negotiating for public access.

Eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

and Crans bullies live in the river. Trout were put in the river around 1911 and Fish & Game now describe it as very clear and having one of the finest trout fisheries, with

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

and brown trout. However, the upper reaches were diverted from the Whakapapa Intake, via tunnels (about and long and over in diameter), Te Whaiau Stream and Lake Otamangakau reservoir to Lake Rotoaira, as part of the

Tongariro Power Scheme The Tongariro Power Scheme is a 360 MW hydroelectricity scheme in the central North Island of New Zealand. The scheme is currently operated by electricity generation company Genesis Energy. The scheme takes water from tributaries of the Rangit ...

, built between 1964 and 1971. Since then the water has been warmer, as about 80% of the river's headwaters now flow into the Waikato catchment. It has also increased the proportion of water coming from developed land. The river is among the worst 25% of rivers for dissolved reactive phosphorus pollution. The Intake was also repaired in 2009.

Tributaries

The river starts where the Whakapapaiti and Whakapapanui Streams meet. They both run from Ruapehu and are joined by several other streams. They have had several

lahars A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extremel ...

run down them in the last 10,000 years, including 1969 and 1975.

References

External links

Kayaking on the river
Rivers of Manawatū-Whanganui Rivers of New Zealand {{ManawatuWanganui-river-stub