- Waitara River
The source of the Waitara River lies in the very steep hill country to the east of Mt.
Taranaki (Egmont ), nearTahora . After proceeding in a southwesterly direction toward CentralTaranaki , the river abruptly turns to flow in a northeasterly direction to theTasman Sea : meeting it at the coastal town ofWaitara . [cite web |first = Thomas Ludovic |last = Wright-Taylor |title = 'WAITARA RIVER' from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A.H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, updated 18-Sep-2007 |url = http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/W/WaitaraRiver/WaitaraRiver/en |accessdate = 2007-12-31 ]The river once had a dock in
Waitara , where export meat from the town's Thos. Borthwick & Sons freezing-works was loaded onto ships. However this trade is now conducted fromNew Plymouth 's Port Taranaki. The river is also prone to flooding, and there are stop banks (levees ) to the west of the river (upstream from the bridge) and on both sides downstream.The Waitara is the first mud-bottomed river to the north of
Cape Egmont .The historic
Bertrand Road suspension bridge , (one of only a few such road bridges in New Zealand) is several kilometres from State Highway 3 (just up from the town).References
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