The Rangitīkei River is one of
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
's longest rivers, long.
Its headwaters are to the southeast of
Lake Taupō
Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's northeastern shore. With ...
in the
Kaimanawa Ranges
The Kaimanawa Range, officially called the Kaimanawa Mountains since 16 July 2020, is a range of mountains in the central North Island of New Zealand. They extend for 50 kilometres in a northeast–southwest direction through largely uninhabited ...
. It flows from the
Central Plateau south past
Taihape
Taihape is in the Rangitikei District of the North Island of New Zealand. It serves a large rural community. New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, which runs North to South through the centre of the North Island, passes through the town ...
, Mangaweka,
Hunterville
Hunterville is a small town in the Rangitikei District, Rangitikei district of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located halfway between Taupo and Wellington on State Highway 1, and as of the 2018 census has a population of 408.
The town ...
,
Marton, and
Bulls, to the
South Taranaki Bight
The South Taranaki Bight is a large bay on the west coast of New Zealand, south of Taranaki, west of the Manawatu, north and west of the western entrance of Cook Strait and north of the South Island. The name is sometimes used for a much smaller ...
at
Tangimoana, southeast of
Whanganui
Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...
. The river gives its name to the surrounding
Rangitikei District
The Rangitikei District is a territorial authority district located primarily in the Manawatū-Whanganui region in the North Island of New Zealand, although a small part, the town of Ngamahanga (13.63% by land area), lies in the Hawke's Bay ...
.
In 1897 the river flooded and all the bridges over it (
Vinegar Hill, Onepuhi,
Kakariki railway bridge and Bulls) were damaged or destroyed. Port of Rangitikei, at the mouth of the river was also washed away and never rebuilt.
Other notable floods were in 1882, 1917, 1936, 1958, 1965
and 2004.
Until 1908 a ferry linked Tangimoana to Scotts Ferry.
Onepuhi, or Onepuehu, bridge was shown on the 1941 map, but missing from the 1968 and later maps. Further decking for the long Onepuhi bridge was suggested in 1958.
The river is a popular leisure and recreation area for jetboating, white water rafting, kayaking and fishing, and includes public camp grounds along its banks, including
Vinegar Hill, New Zealand. Its sheer vertical "paapa" (clay) cliffs (unique to this part of New Zealand) and deep canyons provide the perfect setting for adventure activities such as bungy jumps and flying fox rides. The cliffs, which display
oxygen isotope stages, have been
incised into the soft
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
, 2.6 to 1.7 million year old, marine sediments as the land has risen since the last ice age. The rise has left 19
terraces, which have been mapped.
Part of the river was used as the
Anduin
The geography of Middle-earth encompasses the physical, political, and moral geography of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional continent Middle-earth on the planet Arda, but widely taken to mean all of creation ('' Eä'') as well as all of his writings ...
River in
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...
's movie ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''.
Both rainbow and brown trout throughout the river system with fish in the upper reaches reaching trophy size (i.e. over 4.5 kg) with the average through the rest of the system being around 1.5 to 2 kg. Fish numbers are good throughout the system though there are fewer fish per kilometre in the upper reaches. This is made up for by the quality and size of the fish being larger in this section.
Springvale Suspension Bridge
The Springvale Suspension Bridge crosses the Rangitīkei River on the Taihape–Napier Road (known as the Gentle Annie).
It is located on the Ngamatea Plateau in the district of
Ngamahanga, 41 km north–east of
Taihape
Taihape is in the Rangitikei District of the North Island of New Zealand. It serves a large rural community. New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, which runs North to South through the centre of the North Island, passes through the town ...
and 111 km west of
Napier.
It was built to support farming which increased in the inland
Patea
Patea ( ) is the third-largest town in South Taranaki District, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Pātea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Whanganui on . Hāwera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley, Taranaki, Waverley 17 ...
region after
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and the need to transport stock and wool to the port at
Napier.
The bridge was designed by Rangitīkei County engineer Sydney Mair and built by William Salt. Construction commenced in 1923, the bridge opened in 1925 and it was known as the Rangitīkei Bridge or Erewhon Bridge after the name of the farming block. The name Springvale came from the nearby sheep farm.
The bridge was replaced by the nearby
Callender–Hamilton bridge in 1970 as it was no longer able to carry heavy trucks.
As an early example of a suspension bridge with reinforced concrete towers its importance in engineering heritage was recognised by
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...
designating it as a Category II historic site.
The bridge has a span of 61m supported by 7m high concrete towers at either end. The deck is made of wood and at 2.4m wide is a single lane.
Gallery
File:Springvale Suspension Bridge, New Zealand, view from the south.jpg, Bridge from the south
File:Springvale Suspension Bridge, New Zealand, view from east to west.jpg, View from the east of the bridge
File:Springvale Suspension Bridge deck, New Zealand.jpg, The wooden deck, view from west to east
File:Springvale Suspension Bridge and Callender-Hamilton bridge, New Zealand.jpg, Suspension Bridge in the foreground, modern bridge behind
References
External links
Rangitikei Tourism
{{Rangitikei District
Rivers of Manawatū-Whanganui
Rivers of New Zealand