Thames-Coromandel District Council

Thames ( ) (Māori: Pārāwai) is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council. The Māori iwi are Ngāti Maru, who are descendants of Marutuahu's son Te Ngako. Ngāti Maru is part of the Ngati Marutuahu confederation of tribes or better known as Hauraki Iwi. Thames had an estimated population of 15,000 in 1870, but this declined to 4,500 in 1881, and it has increased modestly since. It is still the biggest town on the Coromandel Peninsula. Until 2016, a historical oak tree that was planted by Governor George Grey stood on the corner of Grey and Rolleston streets.

Thames High School is a public high school in Thames, Waikato, New Zealand. Established in 1880, it is the second oldest secondary school in the former Auckland Province.

The Thames School of Mines is a nationally significant former school of mining in Thames, New Zealand. It is listed as a Category 1 historic building by Heritage New Zealand.

The Thames railway station is a former railway station in Thames, New Zealand on the former Thames Branch from Morrinsville to Thames. The station opened on 19 December 1898 with the opening of the branch line. Passenger service ceased from 28 March 1951. There were also station buildings at Thames North and Thames South. The branch was closed (apart from a section) on 28 June 1991, and goods service ceased. However the station building remained as it was listed by NZHPT Category II in 1982. It is a standard Vintage station, with gables, finials and scalloped bargeboards. Work on the proposed Paeroa–Pokeno Line commenced in the 1930s, but little was done and the proposal was abandoned. The line was to be the first part of the East Coast Main Trunk railway.

The Kauaeranga River is a river of New Zealand's North Island. One of the main rivers on the Coromandel Peninsula, it rises in the Coromandel Range which forms the backbone of the peninsula, flowing southwest through the Kauaeranga Valley to reach the Firth of Thames at Thames. Apart from ammoniacal nitrogen, water quality is generally good.

The Thames Valley is a non-administrative region in the North Island of New Zealand. Broadly, it is the valley component of the Waihou River catchment (which was formerly known as the Thames River). The lower part of the valley is more commonly known as the Hauraki Plains. Geographically the valley extends as far as the Hinuera Gap, although this is not often referred to as such. In geographical history of New Zealand, the Thames Valley was the path of the ancestral Waikato River when it discharged into the Firth of Thames over 20,000 years ago. For local government administration, the Thames Valley is fully contained within the Waikato region, and is split between the Thames-Coromandel, Hauraki and Matamata-Piako Districts. The region's principal industry is dairy farming and is considered to be some of the most intensively farmed dairying areas in the world. The main towns are Thames, Paeroa, Ngatea and Te Aroha. While geographically the towns of Morrinsville and Matamata are also located within the Thames Valley, they are not typically treated as such, and their rugby clubs are affiliated with the Waikato provincial union. The Thames Valley Rugby Team, known as the Swamp Foxes, play in the New Zealand Provincial Rugby Heartland Competition.

The Waihou River is located in the northern North Island of New Zealand. Its former name, Thames River, was bestowed by Captain James Cook in November 1769, when he explored 14 mi (23 km) of the river from the mouth. An older Māori name was "Wai Kahou Rounga". A 1947 Geographic Board enquiry ruled that the official name would be Waihou.

Tararu is a former gold-mining village on the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. State Highway 25 runs through it; Te Puru being about 7 km (4.3 mi) to the north, and Thames about 2 km (1.2 mi) to the south. Tararu has a boat ramp, a 91-dwelling retirement village, a store, 2 motels, a holiday park and is the northern terminus of the Thames Connector bus. The Category 1 former Thames North School opened on 25 January 1878, closed in 1971 and was taken over by Thames Coromandel Council in 1978. It is now Thames Art Gallery. In the 2013 census, Tararu's population was 525, made up of 210 in meshblock 1048800, 138 (1048900), 48 (1048700), 39 (1049000) and 90 (1049100). Tararu is connected to the Thames water supply.

Kopu is a settlement in on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located near Thames, in the Thames-Coromandel District in the Waikato region. Kopu is located on the Waihou River and features the Kopu Bridge. The Totora-Kopu statistical area, as defined by Statistics New Zealand, covers a land area of 8.39 km².

The Historic Kopu Bridge (originally Hauraki Bridge and sometimes Waihou River Bridge) is a single-lane swing bridge that spans the Waihou River, near its emergence into the Firth of Thames in the Thames-Coromandel District of New Zealand's North Island. The bridge was completed in 1928 and was part of State Highway 25. The swinging span in the middle of the bridge is 43 metres long and with an overall length of 463 metres, the bridge was the longest and oldest single lane bridge within the state highway network. It is also New Zealand's only remaining operational swing bridge. As the first available crossing of the Waihou River and the main link between the Hauraki Plains and Coromandel Peninsula, it sees a lot of traffic, especially during holidays. Due to a gradual increase in the traffic between Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, by the early 1990s the bridge became the most heavily used single lane bridge in the country, with traffic volumes of an average of 9,000 vehicles per day. Traffic flow over the bridge was controlled by traffic lights and the bridge was notorious for queues which formed during peak times such as holiday weekends, when three hours delay were common. Rarely used as boat traffic declined (especially for shipping use, with the river once navigable all the way up to the town of Paeroa) in the latter years before it was closed to traffic, the swing span could still be opened to provide a 15.3 m wide channel to passing vessels. The bridge is the only surviving road bridge of the swing span type in the country and Heritage New Zealand lists the bridge as a Category 1 historic place, while it is also on the IPENZ Engineering Heritage Register. In December 2011 a new two-lane bridge opened directly to the south of the old bridge. The old bridge remains under active threat of demolition. However a local group, the Historic Kopu Bridge Society has been working since 2011 to retain the bridge into community ownership, so that it may remain as a pedestrian and cycleway and NZ's last remaining operational swingbridge.

Thornton Bay is a settlement on the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand, between Te Puru to the north and Whakatete Bay to the south. State Highway 25 runs through it. Ngarimu Bay immediately to the south is considered to be part of the same urban area by Statistics New Zealand. Thornton's Bay was named for R. Thornton, an orchardist who settled in the area in 1890. Ngarimu Bay is named after Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, the first Māori person to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Kauaeranga Valley is a valley created by the Kauaeranga River, which flows from the Coromandel Range southwest to the Firth of Thames at Thames, New Zealand in the North Island. It contains the settlement of Kauaeranga (37.1453°S 175.5902°E / -37.1453; 175.5902) on the Coromandel Peninsula. It is located near Thames, in the Thames-Coromandel District in the Waikato region. It covers a land area of 180.51 km2. Kauaeranga Valley Road is the only significant road in the valley.