14 Facts About Waikato River

Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for 425 kilometres through the North Island.

Name Waikato River comes from the Maori language and translates as flowing water.

The Waikato River has spiritual meaning for various local Maori tribes, including the large Tainui, who regard it as a source of their mana, or pride.

Ancestral Waikato River flowed from an ancient lake in the centre of the North Island through deep gorges of welded ignimbrite and rhyolite, northward through the Hinuera Valley and Hauraki Basin into the Thames Estuary.

Waikato River starts in the form of many small streams on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu.

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River leaves the Volcanic Plateau at Karapiro, where it emerges from the Maungatautari Gorge, and flows northwest into the Waikato Basin, flowing through the towns of Cambridge, Hamilton, and Ngaruawahia.

In support of these invasions, New Zealand developed its first "navy", the Waikato River Flotilla, run by an Australian Francis Cadell who was presented with a gold watch and diamonds by the New Zealand government in recognition of his service.

Waikato River has a series of eight dams and nine hydro-electric power stations that generate electricity for the national grid.

Waikato River is renowned among whitewater kayaking enthusiasts, specifically for the Full James rapid located north of Taupo.

Waikato River brought the 1894 400-passenger steamer Manuwai from the Whanganui in 1920.

In 1924 a Cambridge to Port Waikato River excursion was being run 2 or 3 times a year, taking 12 to 14 hours downstream and a few hours longer upstream.

The Waikato River Trail has five sections, open to both walkers or bikes, between Lake Karapiro and Aratiatia.

Large catchment area of the Waikato River is highly fertile farmland, so intensive agriculture is present.

Since 2000 Environment Waikato River has joined with conservation minded farmers to bring about more efficient and scientific use of fertilizers.