Āwhitu Peninsula
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Āwhitu Peninsula
The Āwhitu Peninsula is a long peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand, extending north from the mouth of the Waikato River to the entrance to Manukau Harbour. The Peninsula is bounded in the west by rugged cliffs over the Tasman Sea, but it slopes gently to the east, with low-lying pastoral and swamp land along the edge of the Waiuku River and Manukau Harbour. At the northern tip, the Manukau Heads rises to a prominence above the entrance to the similarly named harbour. The nearby historic Manukau Heads Lighthouse is one of the few in the country open to the public. The peninsula is relatively sparsely populated, despite its proximity to the centre of Auckland city (which lies to the northeast). The largest settlement on or near the peninsula is Waiuku, which lies at the peninsula's isthmus. There are rural settlements at Grahams Beach and Matakawau Point. Geology The Āwhitu Peninsula was formed geologically recently, from black volcanic sand from eruptions of Mount T ...
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Manukau Harbour
The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea. Geography The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burnett Head" / "Ohaka Head") located at the southern end of the Waitākere Ranges and South Head at the end of the Āwhitu Peninsula reaching up from close to the mouth of the Waikato River. The mouth is only 1800 metres wide, but after a nine kilometre channel it opens up into a roughly square basin 20 kilometres in width. The harbour has a water surface area of 394 square kilometres. There is a tidal variation of up to 4 metres, a very substantial change, especially since the harbour, being silted up with almost 10 million years of sedimentation, is rather shallow itself.Manukau Harbo ...
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Waiuku
Waiuku is a rural town in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Waiuku River, which is an estuary, estuarial arm of the Manukau Harbour, and lies on the isthmus of the Āwhitu Peninsula, which extends to the northeast. It is 40 kilometres southwest of Auckland city centre, and 12 kilometres north of the mouth of the Waikato River. Settled in the 13th or 14th centuries, the Waiuku area was an important transportation hub, as the Portages of New Zealand#Te Pai o Kaiwaka, Te Pai o Kaiwaka Portages of New Zealand, portage was the preferred route for people travelling between the Waikato River and Manukau Harbour. The area became a centre for Ngāti Kahukōkā, a Waiohua hapū, by the 15th century. Ngāti Te Ata developed as a union between Waiohua and Waikato Tainui peoples, around the 17th century at Waiuku. Waiuku became a trading port in 1851, facilitating trade between the Waikato River and the port of Onehunga, and Purapura, a Ngāti Te At ...
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Hoturoa
According to Māori tradition, Hoturoa was the leader of the ''Tainui'' canoe, during the migration of the Māori people to New Zealand, around 1400. He is considered the founding ancestor of the Tainui confederation of tribes (iwi), who now inhabit the central North Island. Voyage to New Zealand According to Māori tradition, Hoturoa was a leader in Hawaiki, an unlocated territory somewhere in Polynesia. Because over-population had led to famine and warfare, Hoturoa decided to leave Hawaiki and he commissioned Rakatāura, an expert boat builder in the tradition of Rātā (or according to Wirihana Aoterangi by Rātā himself) to build the Tainui waka According to Pei Te Hurinui Jones the waka was named Tainui because when it first went into the water, it did not ride smoothly and one of Hoturoa's wives, perhaps Marama, shouted out "Hoturoa, your canoe is ('very heavy')". ''Tainui'' was one of the last waka to leave Hawaiki for New Zealand. It departed on Uenuku's night ...
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Kahikatea
''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori language, Māori) and white pine, is a Pinophyta, coniferous tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. A Podocarpaceae, podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of over a life span of 600 years. It was first described botanically by the French botanist Achille Richard in 1832 as ''Podocarpus'' ''dacrydioides'', and was given its current binomial name ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'' in 1969 by the American botanist David John de Laubenfels, David de Laubenfels. Analysis of DNA has confirmed its evolutionary relationship with other species in the genera ''Dacrycarpus'' and ''Dacrydium''. In Māori culture, it is an important source of timber for the building of Waka (canoe), waka and making of tools, of food in the form of its berries, and of dye. Its use for timber and its damp fertile habitat, ideal for Dairy farming in New Zealand, dairy farming, have led to its decimation almost everywhere ex ...
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Tōtara
''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of Podocarpus, podocarp tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to . Tōtara is commonly found in lowland areas where the soil is fertile and well drained. Its Māori language, Māori name comes from the Proto-Polynesian language, Proto-Polynesian word *''tootara'' (related to the word ''tara'' lit. 'thorns, spines and prickles, thorn') which when passed down to descendant languages refer to spiny creatures, especially the Spot-fin porcupinefish, porcupinefish (''Diodon hystrix'') due to its spiky leaves. The spelling "totara" without the Macron (diacritic), ''tohutō'' is also common in English. Description The tōtara is a medium to large tree, which grows slowly to around exceptionally to ; it is noted for its longevity and the great Tree girt ...
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Alectryon Excelsus
''Alectryon excelsus'', commonly known as tītoki, or sometimes New Zealand oak, is a shiny-leaved tree native to New Zealand. It is in the family Sapindaceae. It lives in coastal and lowland forests throughout most of the North Island and from Banks Peninsula to central Westland District, Westland in the South Island. Description ''Alectryon excelsus'' is a sub-canopy tree growing to in height. It has a twisting trunk with smooth dark bark, spreading branches and pinnate leaves. Adult leaflets do not have marginal teeth or usually have very few, blunt and shallow marginal teeth and usually leaflet margins are downturned, whereas, in juvenile leaflets have leaflets with strong teeth and flat along the edges. The length of this tree leaf are around 10–30 cm. This tree has pale grey to almost black skin with a smooth skin texture and has a stem diameter that reaches 50 cm or more. ''Alectryon excelsus'' produces small purple flowers in spring and the seeds take u ...
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Kohekohe
Kohekohe (''Didymocheton spectabilis'') is a medium-sized tree in the Meliaceae family, native to New Zealand. It is found in lowland and coastal forests throughout most of the North Island and also occurs in the Marlborough Sounds in the north of the South Island. Mature trees grow up to in height, with a trunk up to a metre in diameter. The name ''kohekohe'' is derived from Proto-Polynesian language, Proto-Polynesian *''kofe'' meaning a type of bamboo (''Schizostachyum glaucifolium, ʻohe''); its thickening leaf stem bases may have reminded early Polynesian settlers to those of the ''ʻohe''. A fairly close relative of true mahogany (''Swietenia''), it is also called New Zealand mahogany, because its wood is light, strong and polishes to a fine red colour. Kohekohe is notable for having characteristics normally associated with trees growing in the tropics, for example, its flowers and fruit grow directly from the trunk or branches (known as cauliflory), and it has large, ...
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Karaka (tree)
''Corynocarpus laevigatus'', commonly known as karaka or the New Zealand laurel, is a medium-sized evergreen tree in the family Corynocarpaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand and is common throughout the North Island and less common in the South Island. ''C. laevigatus'' individuals are also found on the Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands, and the Three Kings Islands. ''C. laevigatus'' is mostly a coastal tree, although in the North Island, it is also found inland. ''Corynocarpus laevigatus'' was first described in 1776 by the German naturalists Georg and Johann Reinhold Forster. ''C. laevigatus'' grows to heights of up to and has a stout trunk of up to in diameter. Its leaves are leathery, dark to bright green in colour and up to long. From August to November, ''C. laevigatus'' produces large oval-shaped orange-coloured fruits, about in length. ''C. laevigatus'' seeds are highly toxic to humans and contain poisonous toxins and other glucosides of 3-nitropropionic acid ...
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Beilschmiedia Tawa
''Beilschmiedia tawa'', commonly known as the tawa, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy tree species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in these areas, beneath Podocarpaceae, podocarps such as kahikatea, Prumnopitys taxifolia, mataī, Miro (tree), miro and rimu. Individual specimens may grow up to or more in height, with trunks up to in diameter, and they have smooth dark bark. The Māori word "tawa" is the name for the tree. Tawa produce small inconspicuous flowers followed by long fruit of a dark red plum colour. With such large fruits, tawa is notable for the fact that it relies solely on the New Zealand pigeon (kererū) and (where present) the North Island kōkako for dispersal of its seed. These are the only remaining birds from New Zealand's original biota (ecology), biota ...
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Vitex Lucens
''Vitex lucens'', commonly known as pūriri, is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand. History Pūriri was first collected (by Europeans) at Tolaga Bay by Joseph Banks, Banks and Daniel Solander, Solander during Cook's first visit in 1769. The plant was described by Solander in his manuscript "Primitae Florae Novae Zelandiae" under the name "''Ephielis pentaphylla." A drawing was also produced as part of this manuscript.''Cheeseman (1914) Illustrations of the New Zealand Flora. Vol 2. The next botanist to notice pūriri, Allan Cunningham (botanist), Allan Cunningham, did not do so until 1826 when he observed it on "the rocky shores of Bay of Islands, growing frequently within the range of salt water." Cunningham named it ''Vitex littoralis'', correctly assigning it to the genus ''Vitex'' but overlooking that "littoralis" had been used for a Malayan species four years earlier. Thomas Kirk (botanist), Thomas Kirk proposed ''V. lucens'' in 1897 after attention had been drawn to ...
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Agathis Australis
''Agathis australis'', commonly known as kauri, is a species of coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae, found north of 38°S in the northern regions of New Zealand's North Island. It is the largest (by volume) but not tallest species of tree in New Zealand, standing up to tall in the emergent layer above the forest's main canopy. The tree has smooth bark and small narrow leaves. Other common names to distinguish ''A. australis'' from other members of '' Agathis'' are southern kauri and New Zealand kauri. With its podsolization capability and regeneration pattern it can compete with faster growing angiosperms. Because it is such a conspicuous species, forest containing kauri is generally known as kauri forest, although kauri need not be the most abundant tree. In the warmer northern climate, kauri forests have a higher species richness than those found further south. Kauri even act as a foundation species that modify the soil under their canopy to create unique plan ...
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Beilschmiedia Tarairi
''Beilschmiedia tarairi'', commonly known as taraire, is a tree of the family Lauraceae, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is a common canopy tree in lowland forests north of Auckland, often growing in association with kauri (''Agathis australis''), pōhutukawa (''Metrosideros excelsa''), tawāpou (''Planchonella costata''), and pūriri (''Vitex lucens'') on basalt rocks and soils. ''Beilschmiedia'' is a genus of about 40 mainly tropical trees and shrubs with alternate to opposite leaves. Distribution Taraire only occurs in the North Island north of 38°S latitude. It is most common north of Auckland and Thames at about 37°S. However, scattered populations of the tree occur on the west coast between Port Waikato and the Kawhia Harbour, and inland at Pukemokemoke. On the east, it occurs in scattered locations to East Cape. Description Taraire grows up to 22 m in height, and has a very wide crown. The trunk may be up to 1 m in diameter. The bark is dark brown and ...
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