Ahipara

Ahipara is a town and locality in Northland, New Zealand. It is at the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach, with the Tauroa Peninsula to the west and Herekino Forest to the east. Ahipara Bay is to the north west. Kaitaia is 14 km to the north east, and Pukepoto is between the two. The population was 1,125 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 84 from 2001. The name comes from the Māori language words ahi, meaning fire, and para, a large fern, and can be translated as "a fire at which para was cooked". Prior to the late 18th century, the area was called Wharo, which means "stretched out". That name originated when the chief Tohe ordered a slave to measure the distance the tide had receded, by counting the number of arm-spans from the high...