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Waimakariri

just now
Waimakariri River at Old Highway Bridge · tidal
138m³/s
Steady 12 h
7-day peak 604
Water 13.3°
High Clearing Clearing: 2.4 d since the last peak, still 1.3× the 30-day median; glacial, milky in warm weather
Good from about Sun 8:00 am · Sun 6:15 am to Sun 11:00 am, below 120 m³/s, from this recession

Nothing rising upstream, no heavy rain in the catchment.

Twice daily fluctuations are due to tidal influence Restriction uses de-tided and naturalised flows

Along the river

alps to sea
Waimakariri Esk
137m³/s
Steady
Steady 23 h 28 min ago
Waimak below Otarama
101m³/s
Steady
Steady 16 h 28 min ago
about 3 h from the site above
Waimakariri Gorge
1.71m
Steady
Steady 27 h 8 min ago
about 2 h from the site above
Waimakariri OHB · tidal
138m³/s
Steady
Steady 12 h 13 min ago
about 7 h from the site above

Travel times: Waimakariri Esk → Waimak below Otarama 3 h (seeded from the Oct 2026 flood); Waimak below Otarama → Waimakariri Gorge 2 h (seeded from the Oct 2026 flood); Waimakariri Gorge → Waimakariri OHB 7 h (seeded from the Oct 2026 flood).

Flow

m³/s, New Zealand time
  • Waimakariri Esk
  • Waimak below Otarama
  • Waimakariri OHB

Rain in the catchment

mm · ECAN gauges, highest first
Gauge1 h24 hTodayYest.7 d
Mount Byrne
1418 m
0.0–0.00.0227
Cheeseman
880 m
0.00.00.02.564
Carrington
823 m
0.00.00.00.0295
Kanuka Hills
761 m
0.00.00.02.048
Arthur's Pass
750 m
0.00.00.00.0180
Bull Creek
731 m
0.00.00.01.565
Ranger Stream
625 m
0.00.00.02.0100
Grasmere
587 m
0.00.00.00.056
Esk
420 m
0.00.00.09.569

JBNZ river guide

uplifting, class, launching and flows by section

Sections

Waimakariri River
Sea to the SH1 bridge No uplifting
6 km
SH1 bridge to Woodstock Class 1
Shingle, braided · 69 km · 4.4 m/km
Launch Gorge bridge; JBNZ SH1 ramp; Intake Road; West Melton
Commercial operator, heavy boat traffic
Woodstock to the Poulter Class 1
Rocks, rapids, gorgy; the benches between the Esk and the Poulter can be class 3 · 36 km · 4.6 m/km
Launch Woodstock, SH72
Commercial operator, heavy boat traffic
Poulter confluence to Bealey bridge Class 3 Closed April to June
Braided, shingle · 32 km · 5.3 m/km
Launch Mt White bridge
Can be soft shingle to launch into

From the Jet Boating New Zealand Canterbury river information sheet of July 2024, transcribed by hand on 17 October 2026. Uplifting is whether the 5-knot limit is lifted for the section. JBNZ can update the sheet at any time; flo checked it 3.9 h ago. Open the PDF.

Weather

at Waimakariri OHB · Open-Meteo
9pm
Clear
8.8°
–
3 NE
12am
Clear
6.2°
–
4 NW
3am
Clear
5.0°
–
1 SW
6am
Fog
4.0°
–
0 W
9am
Fog
8.4°
–
7 NE
12pm
Fog
12.7°
–
17 E
3pm
Clear
13.8°
–
18 E
6pm
Clear
13.4°
–
16 NE
9pm
Clear
10.7°
–
11 E
12am
Clear
10.2°
–
9 E
3am
Clear
9.0°
–
1 E
6am
Partly cloudy
6.4°
–
6 W
Sat Clear 8.8°/ 7.2° dry
Sun Fog 13.8°/ 4.0° dry
Mon Fog 16.9°/ 6.0° dry
Tue Fog 14.7°/ 6.4° dry

Headwaters

at Waimakariri Esk
Rain next 48 h
0.4mm
Lowest freezing level
2500m

Heavy rain with a high freezing level falls on snow and produces the biggest rises.

Cameras

opens Outdoor Access in a new tab
Waimakariri Boat RampOpen live cam ↗
Outdoor Access· at the Waimakariri OHB gauge · subscription
Waimakariri Gorge - WoodstockOpen live cam ↗
Outdoor Access· 2.2 km from the Waimak below Otarama gauge · subscription
Waimakariri MouthOpen live cam ↗
Outdoor Access· 5.1 km from the Waimakariri OHB gauge · subscription
Waimakariri - SheffieldOpen live cam ↗
Outdoor Access· 5.3 km from the Waimakariri Gorge gauge · subscription