Paekakariki

Paekakariki is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It is 22 km north of Porirua and 45 km north-east of Wellington, the nation's capital city. Paekakariki's population at the 2001 New Zealand census was 1731. This figure decreased to 1602 in the 2006 census. The town's name in Māori means "perching place of the kakariki (green parrot)". Paekakariki lies on a narrowing of the thin coastal plain between the Tasman Sea and the Akatarawa Ranges (a spur of the Tararua Ranges) and was an important transportation node. To the south, State Highway 1 climbs towards Porirua; to the north the plains extend inland from the Kapiti Coast; at Paekakariki the highway and North Island Main Trunk Railway...