Kerikeri River
Encyclopedia
Kerikeri
Kerikeri, the largest town in the Northland Region of New Zealand, is a popular tourist destination about three hours drive north of Auckland, and 80 km north of Whangarei...
and flows into the western extremity of the Bay Of Islands
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
in northern 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...
.
Being slightly less than 20 kilometres long it is hardly a significant waterway, but because it terminates at one of the most important historic sites in the country, the Stone Store Basin, it is known to countless thousands of tourists who visit Kerikeri each year.
The freshwater river falls over a ford into the Pacific Ocean, in the upper extremity of Kerikeri Inlet, a northwestern arm of the Bay. The ford replaced a bridge which crossed at that point for decades, but which needed to be demolished to protect Kerikeri's historic buildings in the basin.
A replacement bypass bridge was constructed several hundred metres upstream and opened in 2008. A pedestrian bridge will be placed 200m upstream from the ford.
The area is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the country, because of its history and photogenic buildings. The Stone Store
Stone Store
The Stone Store at Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands is New Zealand’s oldest surviving stone building.Part of the first Church Missionary Society station in New Zealand, the store was designed by John Hobbs to replace an earlier wooden store house. The Stone Store was erected between 1832 and 1836 by...
was built in 1832 and is the oldest stone building extant in New Zealand. Adjacent is the Mission House
Mission House
The Mission House at Kerikeri in New Zealand was completed in 1822 as part of the Kerikeri Mission Station by the Church Missionary Society, and is New Zealand’s oldest surviving building...
, previously known as "Kemp House", which was built in 1822 and is the oldest surviving wooden house in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand. Behind, up a hill, is St James' Church which has been on the site since 1829 (although in its current form only since 1878).
Part of the history of the river is that it was used by chief Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
whose Kororipo Pa is about 100 metres across the basin from the ford. Hongi used the river and tracks beside it to commute to Kororipo, his coastal pa
Pa (Maori)
The word pā can refer to any Māori village or settlement, but in traditional use it referred to hillforts fortified with palisades and defensive terraces and also to fortified villages. They first came into being about 1450. They are located mainly in the North Island north of lake Taupo...
, which played a significant part in the historic Musket Wars
Musket Wars
The Musket Wars were a series of five hundred or more battles mainly fought between various hapū , sometimes alliances of pan-hapū groups and less often larger iwi of Māori between 1807 and 1842, in New Zealand.Northern tribes such as the rivals Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua were the first to obtain...
.
A popular walking track from the basin leads about five kilometres to the river’s spectacular Rainbow Falls
Rainbow Falls (Waianiwaniwa)
The Rainbow Falls, Māori name Waianiwaniwa, , are a single-drop waterfall located on the Kerikeri River near Kerikeri in New Zealand....
. One of the first hydroelectric power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
s in New Zealand was constructed on the river, and remains of it can be seen from the track.