 Ships up to 3,000 tons carried timber and logs out along the Wairoa to defy the bar at the harbour entrance before continuing on, usually to another New Zealand port or across the Tasman to Australia.The Kaipara River is the principal river feeding Kaipara Harbour from the south.From 1863 Helensville established itself as a timber port on this river, and provided shipping services about the Kaipara.