Ōtākaro meanders its way from a spring source in Avonhead through the city and out to sea via the estuary. Avon is the Welsh word for River so there are many river Avons! One flows into the Severn at Tewkesbury.One flows into the Bristol Channel at Bristol.

• The main Northam Pool on the Avon River (start point for the Avon Descent) is the only permanent stretch of natural inland water along the entire Great Eastern Highway between Perth and Adelaide.
• The land around the Avon River was occupied by the Brayakuloong people of the Gunai/Kurnai indigenous nation for thousands of years prior to European settlement.
• Bland and others traced the river’s course from York to Upper Swan in May 1834.

Stratford is a town on the Avon River in Victoria, Australia, 232 kilometres (144 mi) east of Melbourne on the Princes Highway in Shire of Wellington. The town services the local regional community and travellers on the Princes Highway. Stratford’s principal industries are dairying, sheep, cattle and horse breeding and vegetable crops.

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The two-day course starts with a 52-kilometre stretch beginning in the town of Northam, 100km east of Perth. The course proceeds downriver through the town of Toodyay into the upper reaches of the Darling Range escarpment. The overnight stop is at Cobbler Pool, 20km west of Toodyay.Day 2 is 72km long and sees participants tackle the valley containing the major whitewater obstacles and challenges of the event including Supershoot, Emu Falls, Championship Rapids and Bells Rapids. The rush of the valley leaves participants with the marathon 30km, flat water stretch to Bays water. While the victorious burst their way over the Finish Line the achievers are happy just to finish. The Avon Descent was first held during 1973 with just 49 competitors, no rules, no officials, no checkpoints and very few spectators.

This assumption was shown to be suspect when Moore followed the Swan River upstream for some distance in January 1834 and suggested a connection between the Avon and Swan rivers. Bland and others traced the river’s course from York to Upper Swan in May 1834. It is probable that Stirling chose the name, although the choice may have been made prior to the Governor’s visit as it was used by James Henty who carried out his own examination of the region in October 1830. Ōtākaro, meaning the place of a game, is so named after the children who played on the river’s banks as the food gathering work was being done. In later years, Tautahi (the chief after whom our city takes its name) made kai gathering forays down Ōtākaro from Koukourarata on Horomaka (Banks Peninsula) to take advantage of the abundant bounty offered up by its waters.

Welcome to the Avon Descent

In 2023 and at age additional reading 83, Charlie competed on Day 1 and Day 2 with son Tony and daughter-in-law Phyllis, in a triple surf ski of his own design. Rex has the sole and distinct honour of being the only individual to have that continuous connection to every effort since 1973. In Tautahi’s time few Māori would have lived in the Ōtākaro area itself. Those that did were known to Māori living outside the region as Ō Roto Repo (swamp dwellers). Fish and birds were preserved for use over the winter months when fresh kai was in short supply. The Avon River in Canterbury runs through the center ofChristchurch, New Zealand.

History

The Canterbury Rowing Club was formed in 1861 while the Union Club began in 1864 – many of its members coming from the workers on the railway between Christchurch and Lyttelton. The Trades Rowing Club which was set up later, was eventually called the Avon Rowing Club. All the clubs built wooden boat sheds along the banks of the Avon around the Fitzgerald Bridge. Angus McMillan named the Avon River after the river of the same name in his native Scotland.

There is another river in New Zealand bythe same name in the Marlborough area, but it doesn’t flow througha city. With the 1860s gold rush to the Omeo and Dargo goldfields, the town of Stratford prospered. Historic buildings include the RSL Hall (1866), the Church of Holy Trinity (1868), the Methodist Church (1873), and the Post Office (1884).