SH83 (New Zealand)

The SH83 follows the southern banks of the Waitaki River upstream from SH1 on the coast to meet SH8 high in the hills. It starts at the tiny settlement of Pukeuri and heads west, following the edge of the hills on the south side of the valley. At first, the road is therefore several kilometres from the river, but the two slowly converge as the valley narrows, until there are just a couple of fields between them at the small village of Duntroon. The river channel is wide and braided, so as the road continues north west it can get very close to the river bank in places.

In the small town of Kurow, the SH82 turns off and crosses the river to head back east along the north side of the valley. Meanwhile, SH83 continues upstream, climbing slowly past the Waitaki Dam and Lake Waitaki, then the Aviemore Dam and larger Lake Aviemore. Above the lake is the village of Otematata, where the road turns away from the river - which turns north to a third dam. The road climbs up through a narrow pass, crossing a summit of over 500m, before dropping back to an arm of this upper reservoir, beyond which it is just a short run to the end of the route on SH8 at Omarama