The Leader River is a river in the Hurunui District of the Canterbury region in New Zealand's South Island. It is a tributary of the Waiau River, which it meets near Parnassus. Numerous smaller watercourses join the Leader River, including the Hookhamsnyvy Creek.
Hurunui District is a political district on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, north of Christchurch, New Zealand. It forms part of the Canterbury region and stretches from the east coast to the main divide. Its land area is 8,660.43 square kilometres (3,343.81 sq mi).
Canterbury is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of 44,508 square kilometres (17,185 sq mi), and is home to a population of 624,000.
The South Island, also officially named Te Waipounamu, is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area; the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres (58,084 sq mi), making it the world's 12th-largest island. It has a temperate climate.
In the 1910s, the New Zealand Railways Department intended to build a railway up the Leader River's valley as part of the Main North Line linking Christchurch with the Marlborough region. Between 1912 and 1914, roughly 3 kilometres (2 mi) of track was laid northwards from Parnassus up the Leader River's valley, a few more kilometres of formation was made, and work began on a bridge over the Leader River. However, the outbreak of World War I brought a halt to construction, and when work resumed on building the railway, a more easterly route out of Parnassus was chosen. Nonetheless, a pier from the never-completed Leader River bridge continues to stand in the river. [1]
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works.
The Main North Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north from Christchurch in New Zealand up the east coast of the South Island through Kaikoura and Blenheim to Picton. It is a major link in New Zealand's national rail network and offers a connection with roll-on roll-off ferries from Picton to Wellington. It was also the longest railway construction project in New Zealand's history, with the first stages built in the 1870s and not completed until 1945.
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. The Christchurch urban area lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula. It is home to 404,500 residents, making it New Zealand's third-most populous city behind Auckland and Wellington. The Avon River flows through the centre of the city, with an urban park located along its banks.
