33-632: The Retaruke River is a river in the North Island of New Zealand . It joins with the Whanganui River at Whakahoro just above Wade's Landing and downstream from Taumarunui . The river flows through the farming communities of Upper and then Lower Retaruke Valley . Downstream from this junction is the Mangapurua Landing with its Bridge to Nowhere , servicing the ill-fated Mangapurua Valley farming community. The river source
66-476: A distance of some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi), a gradient of 1 in 24. The area was thoroughly surveyed during the 1880s in an attempt to find a route with a lesser grade, but the only viable possibility seemed to require a 20-kilometre (12 mi) detour and nine massive viaducts. Even then, the gradient would have been steeper than 1 in 50. The problem was solved in 1898 by a surveyor in the employ of Robert Holmes , Public Works Department engineer. He proposed
99-588: A great fish and pulled it right up from the sea. While he was not looking, his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up. This great fish became the North Island, and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui ("The Fish of Māui"). The mountains and valleys are believed to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish. During Captain James Cook 's voyage between 1769 and 1770 , Tahitian navigator Tupaia accompanied
132-473: A line that looped back upon itself and then spiralled around with the aid of tunnels and bridges, rising at a gradient of 1 in 52. Though costly and labour-intensive, the scheme was still cheaper than the previous plan by Browne and Turner which required 9 viaducts down the Piopiotea River. The most remarkable feature is that there is no place to view the complete line. By all accounts, Holmes visualised
165-551: A location further up there still remain the community hall and sports field, here there are annual children's Christmas parties, occasional Dances/Social and the annual Retaruke Easter Sports Day are run. Access to the Valley is via three main roads: Oio Road , Kawautahi Road or the Raurimu-Kaitieke Road from Raurimu . However, on foot the valley can be accessed via the old Mangapurua Road, or by jetboat or via
198-648: A whole. During the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the North and South islands were connected by a vast coastal plain which formed at the South Taranaki Bight . During this period, most of the North Island was covered in thorn scrubland and forest , while the modern-day Northland Peninsula was a subtropical rainforest . Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, eventually separating
231-509: Is also normal to use the preposition in rather than on , for example "Hamilton is in the North Island", "my mother lives in the North Island". Maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions use North Island without "the". According to Māori mythology , the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the demigod Māui . Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught
264-720: Is located 2 km (1.2 mi) south west of National Park in the Erua Forest. The river initially flows south west through the forest before bending to flow north west. Most of the valley is made up of Early Miocene Mahoenui Group rocks. About 65,000 years ago movement of the Waimarino Fault probably allowed capture of the Waimarino Stream and/or Makatote River by the Manganuiateao River , which would have reduced erosion by ending
297-435: Is located at the south-west tip of the island. The island has been known internationally as the North Island for many years. The Te Reo Māori name for it, Te Ika-a-Māui , also has official recognition but it remains seldom used by most residents. On some 19th-century maps, the North Island is named New Ulster (named after Ulster province in northern Ireland) which was also a province of New Zealand that included
330-639: Is the world's 14th-largest island , constituting 43% of New Zealand's land area. It has a population of 4,077,800 (June 2024), which is 76% of New Zealand's residents, making it the most populous island in Polynesia and the 28th-most-populous island in the world. Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei , Auckland , Hamilton , Tauranga , Rotorua , Gisborne , New Plymouth , Napier , Hastings , Whanganui , Palmerston North , and New Zealand's capital city Wellington , which
363-593: Is the location of a "Victory Hall". Further up the valley there was a coal mine, and it was along the upper Retaruke river that fossil whalebones were found by Ken McNaught. The Retaruke valley is contained within the original Kaitieke County. This county was created by the Kaitieke County Act 1910 from portions of Waimarino and West Taupo Counties. Its eastern boundary was the Main Trunk line from Erua to Taumarunui , and its western boundary
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#1732783108562396-510: The Kaitieke dairy factory that was located in Piriaka near Taumarunui . The Retaruke valley has several scenic reserves . Hautonu 9 acres (3.6 ha), Papapotu 28 acres (11 ha), Ngataumata 7 acres (2.8 ha), Ngamoturiki 12 acres (4.9 ha) and Rotokahu 312 acres (126 ha) were gazetted in 1913 and Ngamoturiki 12.5857 ha (31.100 acres) in 1979. The original vegetation
429-530: The North Island Main Trunk railway (NIMT) between Wellington and Auckland . It is a notable feat of civil engineering , having been called an "engineering masterpiece." The Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand has designated the spiral as a significant engineering heritage site. During the construction of the central section of the NIMT, a major obstacle arose: how to cross
462-622: The Whanganui River . (Other access routes such as the Kokako Road & Kuotoroa East Road (to Ruatiti), Te Mata Road from Whakahoro to Taumarunui have long since been abandoned. Some of these roads were examples of pack horse tracks that were expanded to roads during the Great Depression 1930s as job creation schemes.) Historically, the wealth of the valley has come from the production of wool. Early on there were also some small dairy farms producing cream/" butterfat " for
495-412: The 1880s. North Island The North Island ( Māori : Te Ika-a-Māui [tɛ i.kɐ ɐ mɑː.ʉ.i] , lit. 'the fish of Māui', officially North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui or historically New Ulster ) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand , separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait . With an area of 113,729 km (43,911 sq mi), it
528-590: The 2023 census, 63.1% of North Islanders identified as European ( Pākehā ), 19.8% as Māori , 10.6% as Pacific peoples , 19.3% as Asian , 1.9% as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and 1.1% as other ethnicities. Percentages add to more than 100% as people can identify with more than one ethnicity. Māori form the majority in three districts of the North Island: Kawerau (63.2%), Ōpōtiki (66.2%) and Wairoa (68.5%). Europeans formed
561-556: The Lower Retaruke Valley were settled about 1900 by government run farm ballot. Other portions were independently purchased from the Māori community. The land was then cleared, grassed, and sheep flocks herded in from Raurimu to stock the hills. The valley previously had a tiny Mangaroa Primary School ( 39°7.22′S 175°8.06′E / 39.12033°S 175.13433°E / -39.12033; 175.13433 ). At
594-641: The Lower Spiral Tunnel (384 m) and the Upper Spiral Tunnel (96 m). Trains then complete a full circle, crossing over the Lower Spiral Tunnel through which they have just passed which is 23-metre (75 ft) below, before continuing towards Wellington. Two kilometres (1.2 mi) further on the line has two more sharp bends, to the right and then to the left. After the second of these bends a train has risen 132 metres (433 ft) and travelled 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) from Raurimu –
627-500: The North Island is provided by fifteen District Health Boards (DHBs) . Organised around geographical areas of varying population sizes, they are not coterminous with the Local Government Regions . Raurimu Spiral The Raurimu Spiral is a single-track railway spiral , starting with a horseshoe curve , overcoming a 139-metre (456 ft) height difference, in the central North Island of New Zealand , on
660-600: The North Island. In 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with the South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officially named it North Island, or the aforementioned Te Ika-a-Māui, in October 2013. In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island , with the definite article. It
693-437: The South Island, this is solely due to the North Island having higher natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) and international migration; since the late 1980s, the internal migration flow has been from the North Island to the South Island. In the year to June 2020, the North Island gained 21,950 people from natural increase and 62,710 people from international migration, while losing 3,570 people from internal migration. At
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#1732783108562726-462: The South Island, with the country's largest city, Auckland, and the capital, Wellington, accounting for nearly half of it. There are 30 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more: The sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at NZ$ 282.355 billion in 2021 (78% of New Zealand's national GDP). Nine local government regions cover the North Island and its adjacent islands and territorial waters. Healthcare in
759-411: The circumnavigation of New Zealand. The maps described the North Island as " Ea Heinom Auwe " and " Aeheinomowe ", which recognises the "Fish of Māui" element. Another Māori name that was given to the North Island, but is now used less commonly, is Aotearoa . Use of Aotearoa to describe the North Island fell out of favour in the early 20th century, and it is now a collective Māori name for New Zealand as
792-451: The conclusion of the Otago gold rush in the 1860s, New Zealand's European population growth has experienced a steady 'Northern drift' as population centres in the North Island have grown faster than those of New Zealand's South Island. This population trend has continued into the twenty-first century, but at a much slower rate. While the North Island's population continues to grow faster than
825-643: The incidence of lahars and reducing flows in the Retaruke River. Coal was discovered in 1909 in the Late Miocene Whangamomona Group . During the 1960s and 1970s, an opencast coal mine operated at the top end of Retaruke Road. Between 1938 and 1984 it produced about 3,000 tons of coal. 1 kilometre up the Upper Retaruke Valley road is the location of the annual Kaitieke Collie club sheepdog trials . Next
858-660: The islands and linking the Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea . The North Island has an estimated population of 4,077,800 as of June 2024. The North Island had a population of 3,808,005 at the 2023 New Zealand census , an increase of 213,453 people (5.9%) since the 2018 census , and an increase of 570,957 people (17.6%) since the 2013 census . Of the total population, 733,893 people (19.3%) were aged under 15 years, 743,154 (19.5%) were 15 to 29, 1,721,427 (45.2%) were 30 to 64, and 609,534 (16.0%) were 65 or older. Ever since
891-558: The junction of the Upper and Lower Retaruke Roads 39°05.55′S 175°14.87′E / 39.09250°S 175.24783°E / -39.09250; 175.24783 . There stands the World War I memorial, a set of stockyards for auctioning of sheep stock, and a defunct manual telephone exchange. Previously in near proximity to the stockyards, there was a postal depot, a general store and then an automatic telephone exchange. Portions of
924-406: The layout in his imagination. The railway forms an ascending spiral southwards, with two relatively short tunnels, a circle and three hairpin bends. From the north, trains pass Raurimu before going round a 200° bend to the left in a horseshoe curve , climbing above the track on which they have just travelled. Two sharp bends to the right follow, after which the line passes through two short tunnels,
957-470: The plurality in the Auckland region (49.8%) and are the majority in the remaining 39 districts. The proportion of North Islanders born overseas at the 2018 census were 29.3%. The most common foreign countries of birth were England (15.4% of overseas-born residents), Mainland China (11.3%), India (10.1%), South Africa (5.9%), Australia (5.5%) and Samoa (5.3%). The North Island has a larger population than
990-501: The steep slopes between the North Island Volcanic Plateau to the east and the valleys and gorges of the Whanganui River to the west? South of Taumarunui , the terrain is steep but not unmanageable, with the exception of the stretch between Raurimu and National Park , where the land rises too steeply for a direct rail route. A direct line between these two points would rise 200 metres (660 ft) in
1023-549: The straight-line distance is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). Some of the sharp curves are only 7½ chains (150 m) radius. Although spirals are relatively common in the Alps , particularly in Switzerland , they generally involve extensive tunnelling inside mountainsides. A masterly feature of Holmes' layout is the way in which it uses natural land contours so that no viaducts are needed, and only two short tunnels. Legend has it that
Retaruke River - Misplaced Pages Continue
1056-466: Was mainly rimu , rata , tawa , hinau , rewarewa , hard beech , and kamahi . Since about 1960, many kamahi around the headwaters of the river have died. The highest and steepest hills in the Retaruke catchment have residual tawa-dominated stands or secondary growth of kamahi and some kanuka and rewarewa. The rest of the valley was largely converted from native bush to pasture in about 40 years from
1089-454: Was the Whanganui River down to Te Auroa , about 7 km (4.3 mi) east of Waitotara . Other settlements in the county included Manunui , Raurimu, Ōwhango , Kakahi , and Piriaka . Manunui Town Board was split from the county in 1911 and the county became part of Taumarunui County in 1956. The Kaitieke Council Chambers were located at Raurimu near the old Raurimu District High School. The Kaitieke County stockyards are located at
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