The Kawarau Gorge is a major river gorge, located in Central Otago

Central Otago

Central Otago is the inland part of the New Zealand region of Otago in the South Island. The area commonly known as Central Otago includes both the Central Otago District and the Queenstown-Lakes District to the west....

, in the South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The Kawarau River

Kawarau River

Kawarau River drains Lake Wakatipu, in northwestern Otago, New Zealand. The river flows generally eastwards for about 60 km and passes through the steep Kawarau Gorge until it joins Lake Dunstan near Cromwell. The Shotover River enters it from the north; the Nevis River enters it from the south...

 flows through the gorge, which is located between the towns of Queenstown

Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....

 and Cromwell

Cromwell, New Zealand

Cromwell is a town in Central Otago in the Otago region of New Zealand.It is situated between State Highway 6 and State Highway 8 leading to the Lindis Pass, 75 km northeast, and Alexandra, 33 km south. The road to Alexandra winds through the Cromwell Gorge...

, and part of the route of State Highway 6 also follows the gorge.

The gorge begins some 30 kilometres from Queenstown, close to the wine-growing community of Gibbston and the large rock outcrop known as the Nevis Bluff. It continues for some 25 kilometres before the river emerges into the upper valley of the Clutha River

Clutha River

The Clutha River / Mata-Au is the second longest river in New Zealand flowing south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wanaka in the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, south west of Dunedin. It is the highest volume river in New Zealand, and the swiftest, with a catchment of ,...

 close to the settlement of Ripponvale. The Roaring Meg hydro scheme

Roaring Meg hydro scheme

The Roaring Meg hydro scheme refers to two small hydro electricity power stations fed by the Roaring Meg Dam. The scheme is located next to the Roaring Meg Stream in the Kawarau Gorge, near Cromwell, New Zealand...

 and Goldfields Mining Centre are in the gorge.

The gorge is noted for its natural beauty, and is also the site of several extreme sports, notably bungy jumping at the Old Kawarau Bridge, and white-water sports such as kayaking and riverboarding

Riverboarding

Riverboarding is a boardsport in which the participant lies prone on their board with fins on their feet for propulsion and steering. This sport is also known as hydrospeed in Europe and as riverboarding or white-water sledging in New Zealand, depending on the type of board used...

.

A 2004 accident resulted in two hundred litres of hydrochlorite acid spilling into the gorge, the acid cleaned the highway but caused no environmental damage. Three New Zealand Army

New Zealand Army

The New Zealand Army , is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted around 1946...

 soldiers died when their Unimog

Unimog

Unimog is a range of multi-purpose auto four wheel drive medium trucks produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. The name Unimog is pronounced in German and is an acronym for the German "UNIversal-MOtor-Gerät", Gerät being the German word for machine or device...

fell 100 m down the gorge into the river, during a training exercise in 2005.