- Hutt River, New Zealand
The Hutt River flows through the southern
North Island ofNew Zealand . It flows south-west from the southernTararua Ranges for 56 km, forming a number of fertilefloodplain s, includingKaitoke , centralUpper Hutt andLower Hutt .The
headwater s in theKaitoke Regional Park are closed to preserve the quality of thedrinking water drawn off atKaitoke to supply the greater Wellington area. Below Kaitoke is the Kaitoke gorge, a popular destination forRafting . Below the gorge isTe Marua , where theMangaroa River joins the Hutt from the east. Further down, just above of the Upper Hutt floodplain, theAkatarawa River joins the Hutt from the west. The Upper Huttfloodplain contains the greater potion of Upper Hutt city. At this point the river starts to flow along a virtually straightgeologic fault . At the lower end of the Upper Hutt floodplain isTaita Gorge , which separates Upper Hutt fromLower Hutt , this gorge is significantly shorter and less constricting that Kaitoke gorge. The river's outflow, atPetone , is intoWellington harbour. The geological fault which the river previously followed continues as a steep bluff at the edge of theWellington Harbour .For most of its length, the Hutt is a shallow and sometimes braided river in a wide rocky bed (see picture), but in the Kaitoke gorge the river flows directly over
bedrock and approaching the mouth at Petone the river is narrower and the banks steeper. The larger populated areas in Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt are protected from flooding by stopbanks and introducedwillow trees , as is common inNew Zealand . The regular flooding of Lower Hutt resulted in high fertility land and prior to the building ofstate housing by the Labour Government starting in1937 , there were many market gardens in Lower Hutt.The Hutt has moved significantly since European settlement, due to a major earthquake in 1855 which raised the riverbed.
State highway two follows the course of the river for most of its length, with the exception of the Kaitoke gorge and the head waters, before crossing the
Rimutaka Ranges into theWairarapa .The river was named after Sir William Hutt, chairman of the
New Zealand Company . One of the Maori names for the river was Heretaunga, which is also the name of an Upper Hutt suburb and secondary school.The river has a good stock of brown trout, and can be walked or cycled from Upper Hutt to Petone along tracks on either side, though the eastern bank is more accessible.
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