Whangamarino railway station

The Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is situated in rural northern Waikato (about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton on the Waikato Expressway), New Zealand near the Meremere drag strip and the dirt track club.

The Whangamarino Wetland in the Waikato District is the second largest wetland complex of the North Island of New Zealand. Encompassing a total area of more than 7200 hectares, the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai manages 5,923 hectares of peat bog, swamp, mesotrophic lags, open water and river systems listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Fish and Game New Zealand are the second largest landowner, managing 748 hectares of the wetland primarily as gamebird hunting habitat. The site is also one of three of New Zealand’s foremost wetlands included in the Arawai Kākāriki wetland restoration programme, which aims to “enhance the ecological restoration of three of New Zealand’s foremost wetland/freshwater sites, making use of strong community involvement and promoting research into wetland restoration techniques”.

Amokura railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in the Waikato region of New Zealand, 604.62 km (375.69 mi) from Wellington. It is at the north end of a 13 km (8.1 mi) single line section extending to Te Kauwhata. Doubling of that section is being investigated in a business case from July 2021.Sources differ as to the opening date. One says opening was on 20 October 1929 for goods and 11 November 1929 for passengers. Another says 13 August 1877 and that the line was doubled from 1 July 1956. A siding was gazetted with the name Amokura in January 1929 and a 1930 article implied it was new. It was also known c.1929 as Ngatikoi or Raumoa. A crossing loop was closed on 13 May 1963. at that time there was a proposal to combine it with Meremere station, as they were only a chain (22 yd (20 m)) apart and Meremere was larger and better known.

Meremere is a small town in the northern Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the east bank of the Waikato River, 50 kilometres north of Hamilton and 63 km south of Auckland. Meremere was the site of fighting in 1863 during the New Zealand Wars, at which time the settlement (then known as Mere Mere) was the site of a Māori defensive outpost. For a number of years a coal-fired power station operated in Meremere, and much of the workforce lived in the town. The station was the first government-built large scale thermal power station, opening in 1958 and was a notable landmark for travellers along State Highway 1, which runs past the town. An aerial ropeway carried buckets of coal to the station from the Maramarua coal mine. The station closed in 1991 and there were plans during the 1990s to convert the station into a waste to energy plant, using waste from Auckland. These plans, known as the Olivine project, did not eventuate. The site was used as a recycling centre from 2007 to at least 2017.

Meremere Power Station is a former coal-fired power station on the Waikato River at Meremere, approximately 64 kilometres (40 mi) south of Auckland, New Zealand. Meremere was the first major coal-fired power station in New Zealand, and was commissioned to help meet the increasing electricity demands of New Zealand, and especially Auckland, after World War II. The first six 30MW units were commissioned in 1958. The commissioning of Meremere, and Atiamuri Dam further upstream on the Waikato River, meant post-war electricity restrictions were finally lifted in December that year. An additional seventh unit commissioned in April 1967. Two-thirds of Meremere's annual 800,000-tonne coal requirements was met by the nearby Maramarua coalfield, with coal delivered to the power station by a twin aerial ropeway. The remaining one-third of coal came from other mines, and was railed to Meremere via a private siding off the North Island Main Trunk. Meremere last produced power in December 1990 and was decommissioned in March 1991 after 33 years in service.

The Whangamarino River is a lowland river of the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island, draining the Whangamarino Wetland and associated farmland catchment. The river converges with the Waikato River just north of Meremere. The main tributary is the Maramarua River, which starts in the Hunua Ranges and forms the northern catchment of the Whangamarino River. The natural Whangamarino River system, especially the main branch (the southern catchment), has been highly modified due to the lower flood protection scheme of the lower Waikato River. Prior to these floodworks, the Whangamarino Catchment was unconnected with Lake Waikare. However, due to the Lower Waikato-Waipa Flood Control Scheme, constructed in the 1960s, Lake Waikare was transformed and used for flood retention storage when the nearby Waikato River was in flood. During flood events, the Waikato River now overflows into the transformed Lake Waikato via the Rangiriri Spillway (and the redirected Te Onetea Stream). When the Waikato River conditions are suitable, the flood waters are discharged from Lake Waikare into the Whangamarino River catchment through the artificial Pungarehu Canal. While the flood scheme has permanently changed the ecology of Lake Waikare, it has also provided broader benefits for the community.

Te Kauwhata was a flag station on the North Island Main Trunk line, in the Waikato District of New Zealand, 54 mi (87 km) south of Auckland. It was 591.52 km (367.55 mi) north of Wellington, 3.32 km (2.06 mi) north of Rangiriri, 6.72 km (4.18 mi) south of Whangamarino and 12 m (39 ft) above sea level.The name was changed from Wairangi to Waerenga in 1897 and to Te Kauwhata on 28 May 1911. Initially the station served a state experimental farm, but, from 1912, Te Kauwhata township was created.

Te Kauwhata is a small town in the north of the Waikato region of New Zealand, situated close to the western shore of Lake Waikare, some 40 km north of Hamilton and approximately 58 km south of Manukau City.

Invivo Wines is a New Zealand wine company, currently based in the historic Te Kauwhata winery south of Auckland. It produces wine in partnership with TV celebrities Graham Norton and Sarah Jessica Parker, and aims to appeal to casual wine drinkers by avoiding the sort of marketing its founders perceive is too pompous or flowery. Invivo wines have won several awards and trophies in various international wine competitions, and its unorthodox approach to fund-raising and marketing won it the 2009 New Zealand Innovation in Wine Marketing Trophy, as well as two trophies for their Invivo X, SJP global launch at the 2020 New Zealand Marketing Awards.

The Maramarua River is in the north-eastern part of the Waikato District of New Zealand. It is formed by the confluence of the Mangatangi River and the Ruaotehuia Stream just north of State Highway 2 between Mangatāwhiri and Maramarua. It flows through the northern part of the Whangamarino Wetland and joins the Whangamarino River shortly before that river flows into the Waikato River.

Rangiriri is a rural community in the Waikato District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Waikato River near Lake Waikare in the Waikato District. State Highway 1 now bypasses Rangiriri. Rangiriri was the site of a major Māori defence structure during the time of the Invasion of the Waikato, the major campaign of the New Zealand Wars. The Battle of Rangiriri, which took place on 20–21 November 1863, cost both sides more than any other engagement of the land wars and also resulted in the capture of 183 Māori prisoners, which impacted on their subsequent ability to oppose the far bigger British force.

The Mangatāwhiri River is a river of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows generally southwest from its sources in the Hunua Ranges southeast of Clevedon before flowing through a system of irrigation canals at the northern edge of the Waikato Plains close to the town of Pōkeno. It reaches the Waikato River close to the township of Mercer. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "Tāwhiri tree stream" for Mangatāwhiri.The upper reaches of the Mangatāwhiri are dammed to form reservoirs to store water for use by Auckland City.