Home > Waihou/Thames River

The Waihou River - still frequently referred to by its former name of Thames River - is located in the northern North Island of New Zealand.

The river flows north for 150 kilometres from the Mamaku Ranges past the towns of Putaruru, Te Aroha, and Paeroa, before reaching the Firth of Thames at the south end of the Hauraki Gulf near the town of Thames. In its lower reaches, the river and the nearby Piako River form the wide alluvial Hauraki Plains.