Kawarau River

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Kawarau River
Kawarau River with the Roaring Meg hydroelectric power station

Kawarau River with the Roaring Meg hydroelectric power station

Data
location Otago region on New Zealand's South Island
River system Clutha River
Drain over Clutha River  → South Pacific
origin Lake Wakatipu
45 ° 1 ′ 42 "  S , 168 ° 43 ′ 47"  E
muzzle at Cromwell in Lake Dunstan Coordinates: 45 ° 3 ′ 10 ″  S , 169 ° 12 ′ 34 ″  E 45 ° 3 ′ 10 ″  S , 169 ° 12 ′ 34 ″  E

Left tributaries Shotover River
Right tributaries Nevis River
Bungee jumping at the Kawarau Bridge, the first place in the world where commercial bungee jumping was offered. The AJ Hackett Bungy Center is on the right.

Bungee jumping at the Kawarau Bridge, the first place in the world where commercial bungee jumping was offered. The AJ Hackett Bungy Center is on the right.

The Kawarau River is a river in the northwest of the Otago region on the South Island of New Zealand . It is the outflow of Lake Wakatipu and then flows about 60 km in an easterly direction. In doing so, it passes the Kawarau Gorge and then, after a short turn to the north, flows into Lake Dunstan at Cromwell . The Shotover River is a left and the Nevis River is a right tributary of the Kawarau River. The river is characterized by numerous rapids and strong currents. The river has therefore already claimed several lives.

The river has an average flow rate of 216 m 3 / s at the Chards Road monitoring station .

The Roaring Meg hydropower plant flows into the Kawarau, which has already flooded the lower power plant station several times. A few hundred meters below the power plant there is a natural bridge , the river narrows there to only 1.2 m. In the past, the gold diggers used this site as a passage from Dunedin on the way to the Arrow gold fields.

Gold was also extracted from the river in the 19th century. Some of the miners' huts still exist today. Today viticulture is also practiced in the area.

In 1924, a company was formed to drain the river by blocking the drainage of Lake Wakatipu to dig for gold in the river bed. In 1927 ten massive gates were completed. Although the water level fell, the river bed was not drained as hoped. The gates are now part of New Zealand State Highway 6 . The Goldfields Mining Center in the gorge is dedicated to gold mining.

Jet boating, rafting , river surfing and bungee jumping are all available on the river . The Kawarau Bridge 43 m above the river, now a cultural monument, was the place where commercial bungee jumps were offered for the first time in the world. The river is also the first in New Zealand to be used for commercial rafting.

The four major commercial rapids are Smiths Falls , Twin Bridges , Do Little Do Nothing and the 400m Chinese Dog Leg . Among them are the dangerous Nevis Bluff , Citroen and Roaring Meg sections . These are usually not accessible because of the danger.

The river also served as the setting for the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring .

The name of the river is pronounced "K'worra" by the locals. The river has no connection with the town of Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty .

Water Conservation Order

A Water Conservation Order protects the river because of its wild and picturesque character, nature, scientific importance and recreational value. The river must therefore not be dammed and the water quality must be kept at a certain standard. The order covers the course of the river from the gates on Lake Wakatipu to the Scrubby Stream .

Web links

Commons : Kawarau River  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monthly riverflow and rainfall summary . Otago Regional Council , archived from the original on October 14, 2008 ; accessed on August 25, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b The Cromwell Handbook (second edition) . (PDF 3.4 MB) Cromwell and Districts Promotion Group , archived from the original on June 4, 2010 ; accessed on August 25, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge . Heritage New Zealand , accessed August 25, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Kawarau River . In: Rafting.com . Whitewater Rafting Guide to River Trips , accessed April 23, 2019 .
  5. ↑ WATER CONSERVATION (KAWARAU) ORDER 1997 . (TXT) Governor-General-Office , March 17, 1997, archived from the original ; accessed on January 14, 2016 (English, original website no longer available).