Waikato is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupō District, and parts of Rotorua District. It is governed by the Waikato Regional Council.
The Kaimai Range is a mountain range in the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of a series of ranges, with the Coromandel Range to the north and the Mamaku Ranges to the south. The Kaimai Range separates the Waikato in the west from the Bay of Plenty in the east.
Morrinsville is a provincial town in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, with an estimated population of 8,520 as of June 2022. The town is located at the northern base of the Pakaroa Range, and on the south-western fringe of the Hauraki Plains. Morrinsville is around 33 kilometres east of Hamilton and 22 kilometres west of Te Aroha. The town is bordered by the Piako River to the east and the Waitakaruru Stream to the south.
Te Aroha 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 53 km (33 mi) northeast of Hamilton and 50 km (31 mi) south of Thames. It sits at the foot of 952 metres (3,123 ft) Mount Te Aroha, the highest point in the Kaimai Range.
Hauraki District is a territorial authority within the Hauraki region of New Zealand. The seat of the council is at Paeroa.
The Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island of New Zealand extends 85 kilometres (53 mi) 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 west from the Pacific Ocean to the east. It is 40 kilometres (25 mi) wide at its broadest point. Almost its entire population lives on the narrow coastal strips fronting the Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Plenty. In clear weather the peninsula is clearly visible from Auckland, the country's biggest city, which lies on the far shore of the Hauraki Gulf, 55 kilometres (34 mi) to the west. The peninsula is part of the Thames-Coromandel District of the Waikato region.
The Karangahake Gorge lies between the Coromandel and Kaimai ranges, at the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. A sharply winding canyon, it was formed by the Ohinemuri River. State Highway 2 passes through this gorge between the towns of Paeroa, Waikino and Waihi. This road is the main link between the Waikato region and the Bay of Plenty.
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 14 mi (23 km) 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.
The Ohinemuri River is located in the northern half of New Zealand's North Island, at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula.
The Thames Valley is a non-administrative region in the North Island of New Zealand. Broadly, it is the valley component of the Waihou River catchment. The lower part of the valley is more commonly known as the Hauraki Plains. Geographically the valley extends as far as the Hinuera Gap, although this is not often referred to as such. In geographical history of New Zealand, the Thames Valley was the path of the ancestral Waikato River when it discharged into the Firth of Thames over 20,000 years ago.
The Hauraki Plains are a geographical feature and non-administrative area located in the northern North Island of New Zealand, at the lower (northern) end of the Thames Valley. They are located 75 kilometres south-east of Auckland, at the foot of the Coromandel Peninsula and occupy the southern portion of a rift valley bounded on the north-west by the Hunua Ranges, to the east by the Coromandel and Kaimai ranges and the west by a series of undulating hills which separate the plains from the much larger plains of the Waikato River. Broadly, the northern and southern parts of the Hauraki Plains are administered by the Hauraki District and the Matamata-Piako District respectively.
The Thames Valley Rugby Football Union (TVRFU) is the governing body of rugby union in the region of Thames Valley in the North Island of New Zealand. Their senior representative team compete in the Heartland Championship. Thames Valley Rugby Football Union was founded in 1921 when it broke away from the now defunct South Auckland Rugby Union. The Thames Rugby Union, a sub-union that had remained affiliated with the Auckland Rugby Football Union, eventually joined the Thames Valley Union in 1951.
The East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) is a railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, originally running between Hamilton and Taneatua via Tauranga, connecting the Waikato with the Bay of Plenty. The ECMT now runs between Hamilton and Kawerau, with a branch line to Taneatua from the junction at Hawkens. The line is built to narrow gauge of 1,067 mm, the uniform gauge in New Zealand. It was known as the East Coast Main Trunk Railway until 2011, when the word "Railway" was dropped.
The Goldfields Railway is a heritage railway that operates between Waihi and Waikino in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It operates over a section of track that was part of the East Coast Main Trunk Railway until the Kaimai Tunnel deviation made it redundant in 1978. The Goldfields Railway was formed in 1980 as the Goldfields Steam Train Society to retain a portion of the old mainline and switched to its current name in the mid-nineties.
The Thames Branch railway line connected Thames, New Zealand, with Hamilton and was originally part of the East Coast Main Trunk railway. Part of the line between Morrinsville and Waitoa remains open and is in use as the Waitoa Branch line, connecting to the Fonterra Dairy Factory at Waitoa.
The Waitawheta River is a river of the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows from a point south-east of Mount Te Aroha in the Kaimai Range to the Karangahake Gorge at the foot of the Coromandel Peninsula to reach the Ohinemuri River at Karangahake, five kilometres east of Paeroa.
Kaiaua is a small coastal settlement on the Seabird Coast, on the western shore of the Firth of Thames, in the Hauraki District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is 80km from Auckland.
Public transport in Hamilton and the Waikato Region is poorly developed. Only 0.9% of trips were made by bus in 2013/14. This compares with 2.3% nationally, which itself is amongst the lowest modal shares in the world. A Mass Transit Plan aiming to increase public transport's share in Hamilton from 3 to 10% by running services at 10 minute intervals, was to be developed in 2019, but has yet to be funded by NZTA. Waikato, like all other regions, with the exception of Auckland and Wellington, saw falls in use of public transport from 2012. As the map shows, the coverage is sparse and, even of those services which operate daily, most have only 2 or 3 buses a day in each direction. Only Hamilton urban services and those to Huntly run hourly, or more frequently. About 40% of passengers travel on the two routes which run at 15 minute intervals. From Monday 21 February 2022 the less frequent Hamilton buses were cut to hourly, or 2-hourly, due to driver shortages.
The Coromandel Gold Rushes on the Coromandel Peninsula and around the nearby towns of Thames and Waihi in New Zealand in the nineteenth century were moderately successful. Traces of gold were found about 1842. A small find was made near Coromandel in 1852; and a larger find in August 1867 when there was a modest rush. But Thames acquired a reputation for speculative holding of unworked ground despite regulations designed to check it, and some miners left for Queensland. Most of the gold was in quartz reefs rather than in more accessible alluvial deposits and had to be recovered from underground mines and extracted using stamping batteries.
Hapuakohe Range of hills is aligned north-south, between the Waikato River and the Hauraki Plains in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It is separated from the Taupiri Range by an air-gap at Mangawara, where the Waikato flowed about 20,000 years ago.
