The Tairua River is a river located on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand. It flows north and then northeast for a total of 35 kilometers (22 miles) from its source in the Coromandel Range, west of Whangamata, passing through the town of Hikuai before emptying into the Tairua Harbour, which opens into the Pacific Ocean at Tairua on the peninsula's east coast. [citation needed] The small Shoe Island lies directly opposite the river's mouth, 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) out into the Pacific.