Hauraki Plains - Definition and Overview

A true-colour image acquired by NASA's Terra satellite, on October 23, 2002. The Hauraki plains are at the base of the large bay (The Firth of Thames) just to the lower right of centre.

The Hauraki Plains are an area located in the northern North Island of New Zealand. They are located 75 kilometres southeast of Auckland, at the foot of the Coromandel Peninsula and are bounded on the east by the Kaimai Ranges and the west by a series of undulating hills which separate them from the much larger plains of the Waikato River. Administratively, they are largely within the Hauraki district.

The alluvial plains have been built up by sediment depisited by the Piako and Waihou/Thames Rivers, which flow south to reach the sea at the Firth of Thames. The resulting land is flat, peat-heavy, and partly swampy, but it is also excellent land for dairy farming, which is the main local industry.

The largest town in the plains is Ngatea, although the larger Te Aroha is located near their southern boundary with the Thames Valley.