Conway River Piri-tūtae-putaputa
The Conway River/Piri-tūtae-putaputa (Māori) forms part of the boundary between the Canterbury and Marlborough region. Originating in the Amuri Ranges (click for interactive catchment map) near Palmer Saddle, and gaining water from the Charwell River, the Conway River travels some 30km east through the Hundalee Hills on the southern side of the Kaikoura Ranges.
Along the upper and middle parts, the river has steep banks with ancient river terraces high above the riverbed as well as narrow but unmistakably braided river characteristics. Turning north-east at the State Highway 1 (SH1) bridge at Hundalee, the river turns south-east before discharging into the Pacific Ocean at Conway Flat.
There’s a small coastal lagoon/hapua (Māori) at the rivermouth, sheltered behind a barrier beach that only occasionally opens to sea. This small saltmash lagoon, like the Waipara River hapua, is an important habitat for many species.
Water flow
- River Report 24-hour Infoline: river flows (updated twice daily), rainfall, sign up for text alerts
- Catchment map and monitored sitesinclude scientific indicators for water quality (LAWA: Land Air Water Conway)
Impacts from the Kaikoura earthquake sequence
The 7.8 (Mw) Kaikoura earthquake sequence in 2016 resulted in large, landscape-scale changes to sections of the the river catchment. Parts of the river were blocked or changed course due to faults and landslips, resulting in flooding and new lakes forming behind (often unstable) natural dams. These are a selection of videos taken from the air showing some aspects of those (in many cases permanent) changes to the river. The long term impacts on flora and fauna is unknown.
References & research material
- ECan document library: enter ‘Conway River’ in the keywords’ search field
- DOC catalogue of scientific publications: enter the relevant search terms in the search dialogue box. You may need to vary your search, for example ‘black stilt’ gives far more results than ‘kaki’ or ‘kakī’
- See Rivers for a more comprehesive list of braided rivers research and reference material