Waimakariri Gorge and the Gorge Bridge

The Gorge bridge crosses a narrow part of the river before it spreads its braids as it descends to the sea across the Canterbury Plains.
Before the bridge there was a ferry charging sixpence per foot passenger, 1 shilling for a horse and rider and 4 shillings for a loaded 4 wheel dray. Sheep,pigs and goats were a penny a head.

A metal plate girder bridge, it was designed by Harry Pasley Higginson. and erected in 1876 . The piers from the bed of the river are 95 feet and 110 feet high and are of cast iron filled with concrete.
Until the early 1930s the bridge carried the railway line between Oxford and Sheffield.

Excursions from Christchurch offer a range of options for jet boating on the Waimakariri river.

WAIMAK GORGE JET BOATING FROM CHRISTCHURCH