Introducing Thames
Thames dates from a time when gold-digging had a much different connotation to what it does today. Dinky 19th-century wooden buildings still dominate the town centre, but grizzly prospectors have been replaced by alternative lifestylers. If you’re a vegetarian eco-warrior you’ll feel right at home. It’s a good base for tramping or canyoning in the nearby Kauaeranga Valley.
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Captain Cook arrived here in 1769, naming the Waihou River ‘Thames’ ‘on account of its bearing some resemblance to that river in England’. This area belonged to the Ngati Maru, a tribe of Tainui descent. Their spectacular meeting house, Hotunui (1878), holds pride of place in the Auckland Museum.
After opening Thames to gold-miners in 1867, the Ngati Maru were swamped by 10, 000 European settlers within a year. When the initial boom turned to bust, a dubious system of government advances resulted in Maori debt and forced land sales.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
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RE: Travel notes from my England holiday june 2011
by battybilly 13 September 2011
+*England is a green and pleasant land*+ Not at the mouth of The Thames - it ain't.
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RE: What else to do in London after spending 5 weeks here and with about 2 days
by lsquare 06 September 2011
@battybilly, Thanks for the suggestion and I guess taking another walk along the Thames would be nice. The problem is that the weather…
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RE: camping along the Thames
by dannoura 30 August 2011
Just got back from the trip. I paid 5 pounds one night at an inn for permission to camp out on a field. The rest of the time I found a…
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