Waikatois alocal government regionof the upperNorth IslandofNew Zealand. The region stretches from Coromandel Peninsula in the north, to the north-eastern slopes ofMount Ruapehuin the south, and spans the North Island from the west coast, through the Waikato and Hauraki to Coromandel Peninsula on the east coast.
The name for the region is taken from the Waikato River;waikatois aMāoriword traditionally translated as "flowing water" (specifically,wai= "water" andkato= "the pull of the river current in the sea").