The Waihou River is located in the northern

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. Its former name, Thames River, was bestowed by Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

in November 1769, when he explored of the river from the mouth. An older Māori name was "Wai Kahou Rounga". A 1947 Geographic Board enquiry ruled that the official name would be Waihou.

Geography

The river flows north for from the

Mamaku Ranges The Mamaku Ranges are a mountain range in the North Island of New Zealand. Located to the west of Lake Rotorua and north of Lake Taupō, they lie to the immediate south of the Kaimai Range and can be thought of as an extension of it, in much the s ...

past the towns of

Putāruru Putāruru is a small town in the South Waikato District and the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It lies on the western side of the Mamaku Ranges and in the upper basin of the Waihou River. It is on the Oraka Stream 65 kilometre ...

Te Aroha Te Aroha ( mi, Te Aroha-a-uta) is a rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand with a population of 3,906 people in the 2013 census, an increase of 138 people since 2006. It is northeast of Hamilton and south of Thames. It sits at the f ...

Paeroa Paeroa is a town in the Hauraki District of the Waikato Region in the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula, it is close to the junction of the Waihou River and Ohinemuri River, and is approximately 20 k ...

and

Turua Turua is a small village community on the banks of the Waihou River in the Hauraki Plains in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located close to the mouth of the river, 9 kilometres south of the Firth of Thames and 12 km south of Thame ...

, before reaching the

Firth of Thames The Firth of Thames ( mi, Tikapa Moana-o-Hauraki) is a large bay located in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the firth of the rivers Waihou and Piako, the former of which was formerly named the Thames River, and the town of ...

at the south end of the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Thames, New Zealand, Thames. In its lower reaches, the river and the nearby

Piako River The Piako River is a lowland river system that drains into the Firth of Thames on the North Island of New Zealand. Together with the Waihou River, it is one of the two main rivers systems which drains the Hauraki Plains. It is the dominant ri ...

form the wide

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 ...

Hauraki Plains The Hauraki Plains are a geographical feature and non-administrative area (though Hauraki Plains County Council existed from 1920 to 1989 and a statistical Area Unit remains) located in the northern North Island of New Zealand, at the lower ( ...

. Just before the river reaches the ocean, State Highway 25 crosses the river over the Kopu Bridge, which was the longest single lane bridge in the country at and the only remaining

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

on a New Zealand state highway. The bridge was infamous for the queues of vehicles travelling to and from the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the we ...

until a new two lane bridge was opened in December 2011. Tributaries include the Waimakariri Stream, Waiomou Stream, Oraka Stream and the

Ohinemuri River The Ohinemuri River is located in the northern half of New Zealand's North Island, at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula. The river's source is north-east of the town of Waihi, close to the shore of the Bay of Plenty, but flows west rather ...

. In 1879 the Falls of Awotonga were destroyed by of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

to free the navigation of the river for shipping. There was a water column of 150 m. Other parts of the river had been cleared in the same manner in previous years. In the 1910s stopbanks and floodgates were constructed along the Waihou River in order to protect farmland from flooding, including a canal constructed at the point where the Waihou River and

meet, west of

. Further work occurred in the 1980s after extensive flooding in 1981.

History

Many areas on the banks of the Waihou River were settled by

Hauraki Māori The Hauraki Māori are a group of Māori iwi at or around Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. It includes Ngāti Tara Tokanui, Ngāti Koi, Te Patukirikiri, Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Huarere, Ngāti Hei, Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Pūkenga and Ngāti Rāhiri. It also ...

, such as Oruarangi pā and Paterangi pā near

Matatoki Matatoki is a locality on the Hauraki Plains of New Zealand. It lies on State Highway 26, south east of Thames and north of Paeroa. The Matatoki Stream runs from the Coromandel Range through the area to join the Waihou River. The Kopu sawmil ...

, and the Te Raupa pā and Waiwhau pā near

Recreation

The crystal-clear waters of the Waihou River provide ideal fishing. The river supports large populations of

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 The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

. A survey conducted in 2009 showed that the upper section of the river supported over 700 fish per kilometre. Dibsell's Landing, Te Aroha, watercolour by John Philemon Backhouse, 1881

Dibsell's Landing, Te Aroha, watercolour by John Philemon Backhouse, 1881

References

External links

*
1:50,000 map of source of Waihou RiverSouth Waikato District Council: Te Waihou Walkway to Blue Spring - with link to youtube video
Thames-Coromandel District Rivers of Waikato Rivers of New Zealand Firth of Thames Hauraki Gulf catchment {{Waikato-river-stub