The Orongorongo River runs southwest through the Orongorongo Valley in the southern Rimutaka Ranges of the North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

 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 river and its associated catchments lie within the bounds of the Rimutaka forest park, which is administered by the Department of Conservation (New Zealand)

For much of its course the river is a braided river

Braided river

A braided river is one of a number of channel types and has a channel that consists of a network of small channels separated by small and often temporary islands called braid bars or, in British usage, aits or eyots. Braided streams occur in rivers with high slope and/or large sediment load...

, with a wide bed of gravel and a number of streams of water. The gravel bed can be seen as light-coloured areas of varying width in the image to the right.

External links

• http://orongorongo.wellington.net.nz/