Woodend is a town in the Waimakariri District, in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It may have been named because it was on the edge of what was then called the Maori Bush, or after an early settler, Thomas Wooding. It is situated with both the Waimakariri and Ashley / Rakahuri Rivers running either side. Woodend is 6.6 kilometres north of Kaiapoi and 6.3 kilometres to the east of Rangiora. Woodend is within walking distance of the town of Pegasus.