Kawarau River

Kawarau River
Kawarau River with Roaring Meg hydro station
Country	New Zealand
Basin features
Main source	Lake Wakatipu
River mouth	Lake Dunstan
Physical characteristics
Length	60 km (37 mi)

The Kawarau River drains Lake Wakatipu, in northwestern Otago, New Zealand. The river flows generally eastwards for about 60 kilometres (37 mi) 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. Containing many rapids and strong currents, the river can be dangerous and has claimed many lives.

The Roaring Meg Hydro Scheme discharges into the Kawarau, and at times the lower station has been flooded by the river. A few hundred metres west of the station is a natural bridge where the river narrows to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft), which was used as a crossing place by early goldminers. The goldminers were crossing from the Dunedin side on the current Mount Difficulty Station to the northern side on Waitiri Station to get access to the Arrow Goldfields.

In the 19th century, gold was extracted from the river. Some of the miners' huts remain today, many of them close to thriving vineyards. In 1924 a company was formed to drain the river by blocking off Lake Wakatipu, with the intent of then collecting gold from the river bed. Ten massive gates were completed in 1927 and although the river level dropped it was not laid bare as planned. The gates now form part of State Highway 6. The Goldfields Mining Centre located in the gorge operates demonstration centre with a working exhibition of gold mining techniques.

Tourist adventure activities on the river include riverboarding, jet boating, white water rafting, river surfing, and bungy jumping. The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge, 43 metres (141 ft) above the river, and a Category I historic place, is the site of the world's first commercial bungy jumping operation. Eastburn Station gave up the 1.2 square kilometres (300 acres) plus that forms the natural backdrop as a reserve. The river is also the largest volume commercially rafted in New Zealand, having an average flow of 216 cubic metres per second (7,600 cu ft/s) at Chards Road measuring station. The four significant commercially used rapids on the river are Smiths Falls, Twin Bridges, Do Little Do Nothing and the 400-metre (1,300 ft) Chinese Dog Leg. Below these are the dangerous Nevis Bluff, Citroen and Roaring Meg sections. Because of the danger Waitiri Station usually declines access.