Kawhia Harbour - Definition and Overview

Kawhia Harbour is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour and Kawhia Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton.

The settlement of Kawhia is located on the northern coast of the inlet, and was an important port in early colonial New Zealand.

The harbour area was the birthplace of prominent Maori warrior chief Te Rauparaha, and is known in Maori lore as the final resting-place of the ancestral waka (canoe) Tainui.