The Buller Gorge is a

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to c ...

located in the northwest of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasma ...

of New Zealand. The

Buller River The Buller River ( mi, Kawatiri) is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. One of the country's longest rivers, it flows for from Lake Rotoiti through the Buller Gorge and into the Tasman Sea near the town of Westport. Within the Bull ...

flows through the deep

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut ...

between Murchison and Westport.

Land Information New Zealand Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with geographical information and surveying functions as well as handling land titles, and managing Crown land and property. The minist ...

lists two sections for the gorge, Upper Buller Gorge and Lower Buller Gorge. runs alongside, but considerably above, the river through the gorge. The

Stillwater - Westport Line Stillwater or still water may refer to: *Still water, water that is not carbonated Places Settlements in the United States *Stillwater, Minnesota *Stillwater County, Montana **Stillwater igneous complex *Stillwater, Nevada * Stillwater, New Jer ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

also runs through the gorge. New Zealand's longest

swingbridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then p ...

at in length spans the Buller River west of Murchison. That area also offers rides on a

zip-line A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide is a pulley suspended on a cable, usually made of stainless steel, mounted on a slope. It is designed to enable cargo or a person propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the b ...

across the gorgeBuller Gorge Swingbridge Adventure and Heritage Park
Buller Gorge Swingbridge Adventure and Heritage Park website. Accessed 2013-09-18. as well as several short bush walks. The gorge and river both take their name from

Charles Buller Charles Buller (6 August 1806 – 29 November 1848) was a British barrister, politician and reformer. Background and education Born in Calcutta, British India, Buller was the son of Charles Buller (1774–1848), a member of a well-known Cor ...

, Member of Parliament in the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Gre ...

(UK) and director of the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

, a UK-based company in the early 1800s with a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

supporting colonization efforts of New Zealand.

References

External links

Buller District Canyons and gorges of the West Coast, New Zealand State Highway 6 (New Zealand) {{WestCoastNZ-geo-stub