Your place - Kawerau

Forty minutes by road from Rotorua and 30 from Whakatane, Kawerau is one of our newest towns too, purpose built by a public-private partnership in 1953. Prior to then the area was known by its wider district name, Onepu, and it stood at the edge of the great Kaiangaroa forest. In April 1954 a borough was officially created and the town was named Kawerau, after one of the very early Maori figures in the area. The World Rafting Championships are being held there at the moment.