Waihou River

Waihou River near Putaruru

Waihou River seen from the bridge at Kopu of SH25

The Waihou River is a river in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. His former name, Thames River, was given to him in 1796 by Captain James Cook. At the time, Cook drove up the river as the first Europeans. The river reminded him of the Thames in London, so he gave him the same name. The name remained for some time, today the name Weihou is in use. The discovered by Cook kahikatea trees were later used by many ships as masts and spars.

In 1900, the Waihou was navigable up to Matamata, because the river had not yet been silted up.

The river flows from the Mamaku Ranges 150 km to the north of the towns of Putaruru, Te Aroha and Paeroa over. Other places along the river are Kopu, Turua, Matatoki, Puriri, Hikutaia and Matamata.

It ends at the southern end of the Hauraki Gulf at Thames in the Firth of Thames. At its lower reaches, the river forms with the adjacent Piako River the vast alluvial Hauraki Plains.

Shortly before his mouth crossed State Highway 25 the river with the Kopu Bridge, the longest with 463 m -lane bridge in the country and the only swing bridge of a State Highways in New Zealand. This bridge is notorious for the traffic jams of cars that want to use this connection to the Coromandel Peninsula.