Waihou River
The Waihou River is located in the northern North Island of New Zealand. Its former name, Thames River, was bestowed by Captain James Cook 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 past the towns of Putāruru, Te Aroha, Paeroa and Turua, before reaching the Firth of Thames at the south end of the Hauraki Gulf near the town of Thames. In its lower reaches, the river and the nearby Piako River form the wide alluvial Hauraki Plains. 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 on a New Zealand state highway. The bridge was infamous for the queues of vehicles travelling to and from the Coromandel Peninsula until a new two lane bridge was opened in December 2011. Tributaries include the Waimakariri Stream, Waiomou Stream, Oraka Stream and the Ohinemuri River.History
Many areas on the banks of the Waihou River were settled by Hauraki Māori, such as Oruarangi pā and Paterangi pā near Matatoki, and the Te Raupa pā and Waiwhau pā near Paeroa. The mouth of the river was famous as a location for pātiki fishing.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 Ohinemuri River meet, west of Paeroa. Further work occurred in the 1980s after extensive flooding in 1981.
Transport
In 1879 Te Au o Tonga, or the Falls of Awotonga, were destroyed by of dynamite to free the navigation of the river for shipping. There was a water column of. Other parts of the river had been cleared in the same manner in previous years. Josiah Firth had Kotuku built in 1879 and spent £7,442 to 1880, extending navigation to allow the deep steamer as far as Stanley Landing, near Gordon. By 1909 Northern Steamship had a shed at Te Aroha, reached by a steamer 3 days each week. By 1923 a launch could reach Okauia. A 1925 report said there had once been a steady traffic. Regular traffic on the river ended in 1947.There were also ferries across the river -
- A vehicle ferry crossed the river at Te Aroha from 1879 until the bridge was built in 1885
- Puke Ferry was launched in 1899 and closed when Ngahina Bridge opened on 10 March 1915. The bridge was replaced in the 1960s.
- From 1912 Wharepoa ferry linked Netherton, Kerepehi and Turua with Wharepoa. It was replaced by a Netherton-Komata ferry in 1926, which closed in 1936.
- In 1884 a punt crossing from Opani Point to Kopu overturned. By 1911 a public petition called for a ferry, but there were many delays; described as farcical in a 1919 report. The ferry finally started on 28 August 1922 taking 7 to 12 minutes for the crossing. It ran until Kopu Bridge opened on 11 May 1928.