Place:Awatere Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand

The 113-km Awatere River rises on the Marlborough–Canterbury border. The high-country Acheron River probably at one point fed into the Awatere, but now flows south to join the Clarence; it is reached from the Awatere via Wards Pass.

In colonial times the Awatere was forded about 10 km upstream from the current bridge, at Taylors Ford, where there was an accommodation house from 1859 to 1904 and a settlement. In 2010 all that survives is a cemetery and the name Old Ford Road. Since the 1990s much of the alluvial plain has been turned over to grapes.

Malcolm McKinnon. 'Marlborough places - Awatere valley', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 13-Jul-12 URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/marlborough-places/page-9