Kapiti Coast
Encyclopedia
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
that is north of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and opposite Kapiti Island
Kapiti Island
-External links:* , Department of Conservation* * , Nature Coast Enterprise *...
. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Wellington Regional Council. Kapiti means "joining" or "boundary": the island was at one time the boundary between the rohe
Rohe
Rohe is a word used by the Māori of New Zealand to describe the territory or boundaries of tribal groups. In traditional times, rohe were defined according to prominent geographical features, including mountains, rivers, and lakes. This is generally the case today as well....
(territories) of two Māori iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
.
Geography
The Kapiti Coast DistrictKapiti Coast District
The Kapiti Coast District is a local government district in the lower North Island of New Zealand 50 km north of Wellington.The district is named after Kapiti Island a prominent landmark 5 km offshore. The population of the district is concentrated in the chain of coastal settlements...
stretches from Paekakariki
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....
in the south to Otaki
Otaki, New Zealand
Otaki is a town in the Kapiti Coast District of the North Island of New Zealand, situated half way between the capital city Wellington, 70 kilometres to the southwest, and Palmerston North, 70 kilometres to the northeast. It marks the northernmost point of the Wellington Region. The town's...
in the north. It includes the towns of Te Horo
Te Horo
Te Horo and Te Horo Beach are two localities on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. Te Horo Beach is the larger of the two settlements and, as its name implies, is located on the Tasman Sea coast. Te Horo is located to the east, a short distance inland. They are situated between Peka...
, Waikanae
Waikanae
Waikanae is a small town on New Zealand's Kapiti Coast. The name is a Māori word meaning "The waters of the yellow eyed mullet". Another settlement called Waikanae Beach exists near Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand....
, Paraparaumu
Paraparaumu
Paraparaumu is a town in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It lies in the Kapiti Coast, 50 kilometres north of the nation's capital city, Wellington....
, Raumati Beach, and Raumati South, and smaller localities such as Emerald Glen, Lindale
Lindale, New Zealand
Lindale is a locality just north of the Paraparaumu town centre in New Zealand's Kapiti Coast district. Originally involving just a Tourist and Agricultural Centre, gaining a reputation for cheese and more recently Lindale Farm itself, it has since acquired a university campus and a convention...
, Maungakotukutuku
Maungakotukutuku
Maungakotukutuku is a rural locality on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is located inland, behind Paraparaumu and Raumati, and the 2001 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings gave its population as 621 people, an increase of 38.9% or 174 people since the 1996 census.The...
, Otaihanga
Otaihanga
Otaihanga is on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is just north of Paraparaumu on the south bank of the Waikanae River and is roughly 55 km north of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington...
, and Peka Peka
Peka Peka
Peka Peka, sometimes Pekapeka, is a lightly populated seaside locality on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. Its population according to the 2001 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings is 195, an increase of 35.4% or 51 people since the 1996 census. It is located just off...
. Along the thin coastal plains at the foot of the Tararua Range
Tararua Range
The Tararua Range is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand which form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington....
, the Kapiti Coast in common parlance occasionally includes the neighbouring areas south to Plimmerton
Plimmerton
The township of Plimmerton is adjacent to one of the more congenial beaches in the northwest part of the Wellington urban area of Porirua in New Zealand...
to the north of Porirua Harbour
Porirua Harbour
Porirua Harbour is a natural inlet in the south-western coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The city of Porirua, one of the four cities in the Wellington conurbation, surrounds it. The city centre is to the south of the harbour....
, and in the north includes some of the coastal areas of Horowhenua such as Waikawa Beach and even Hokio Beach, close to Lake Horowhenua
Lake Horowhenua
Lake Horowhenua is located in the Horowhenua, an area of the southern Manawatu-Wanganui region in New Zealand's North Island. It covers an area of 3.9 square kilometres....
. The district extends inland to the top of the Tararua Range, whereas in the public perception the inland hill country is rarely considered as part of the coast. Kapiti is possibly most famous for its island, Kapiti Island. Most of the island is a pest-free bird sanctuary, where a permit is required to visit.
History
Māori chief Te RauparahaTe Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of conquered Rangitane land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough...
established a base on Kapiti Island, and from this position, he was able to launch attacks on other tribes during the Musket Wars
Musket Wars
The Musket Wars were a series of five hundred or more battles mainly fought between various hapū , sometimes alliances of pan-hapū groups and less often larger iwi of Māori between 1807 and 1842, in New Zealand.Northern tribes such as the rivals Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua were the first to obtain...
of the early 19th century. Around this time, Europeans began whaling in the area, and on 16 October 1839, William Wakefield
William Wakefield
William Hayward Wakefield was an English colonel, the leader of the first colonizing expedition to New Zealand and one of the founders of Wellington. In 1826, he married Emily Sidney, a daughter of Sir John Sidney.-Early life:...
of the New Zealand Company
New Zealand Company
The New Zealand Company originated in London in 1837 as the New Zealand Association with the aim of promoting the "systematic" colonisation of New Zealand. The association, and later the company, intended to follow the colonising principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of...
arrived in the Kapiti region to purchase land for permanent European settlement. Te Rauparaha sold him land in the Nelson
Nelson, New Zealand
Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....
and Golden Bay
Golden Bay
Golden Bay lies at the edge of the junction between the Tasman Sea and Cook Strait. It stretches for 45 kilometres from the long sand spit of Farewell Spit in the north to Separation Point in Abel Tasman National Park at its southern extremity...
area.
European settlement of the Kapiti Coast only took place on a significant scale after the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) opened its railway line from Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
to Longburn
Longburn
Longburn is a rural settlement just outside of Palmerston North in the Manawatu-Wanganui area of New Zealand. Made up of large dairy processing plants Longburn is often mistaken to be a small township and not seen as a large satellite town of Palmerston North...
, just south of Palmerston North
Palmerston North
Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...
. The line was opened in 1886, with the final spike driven in on the Kapiti Coast at Otaihanga. Paekakariki was quickly established as a significant steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
depot due to the need to swap locomotives at the location; powerful, heavy locomotives were required to handle trains over the rugged section from Wellington to Paekakariki, while lighter, faster locomotives were more suited to the relatively flat terrtain north of Paekakariki. In 1908, the WMR was purchased by the New Zealand Railways Department
New Zealand Railways Department
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was reformed in 1981 into the New...
, who incorporated the line into the North Island Main Trunk Railway.
In June 1940, the Wellington-Paekakariki section was electrified
Railway electrification system
A railway electrification system supplies electrical energy to railway locomotives and multiple units as well as trams so that they can operate without having an on-board prime mover. There are several different electrification systems in use throughout the world...
as electric locomotive
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
s provided better motive power. This meant trains would swap from steam (and later diesel-electric
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
) to electric traction in Paekakariki and it retained its status as a significant locomotive depot. It also became the northern terminus of the Wellington commuter railway network until 8 May 1983, when it was extended to Paraparaumu. In February 2011 electrification reached Waikanae, which became the new terminus.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Queen Elizabeth Park
Queen Elizabeth Park, New Zealand
Queen Elizabeth Park is a Wellington Regional Park located on the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand. The park contains the last area of natural dunes on the Kapiti Coast. The park is steeped in history including pa sites at Whareroa Beach and Wainui Beach....
- a large tract of parkland between Raumati South and Paekakariki - was the location of two United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
camps, McKay and Russell. US troops were stationed at the camps in 1942-44 prior to being sent into combat in the Pacific Ocean theatre
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....
.
After World War II, Wellington's Rongotai Airport was closed due to safety reasons in 1947 and Paraparaumu Airport
Paraparaumu Airport
Kapiti Coast Airport , earlier called Paraparaumu Airport, is on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island, between the Wellington dormitory suburbs of Paraparaumu Beach , Paraparaumu to the east, and Raumati Beach to the south...
became the main airport for the Wellington Region
Wellington Region
The Wellington region of New Zealand occupies the southern end of the North Island.-Governance:The official Wellington Region, as administered by the Wellington Regional Council covers the conurbation around the capital city, Wellington, and the cities of Lower Hutt, Porirua, and Upper Hutt, each...
. In 1949, it was New Zealand's busiest airport and helped to stimulate growth on the Kapiti Coast. The Wellington International Airport
Wellington International Airport
Wellington International Airport is an international airport located in the suburb of Rongotai in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It is a secondary hub and focus city for Air New Zealand and its subsidiaries...
was opened in 1959 and Paraparaumu Airport never regained its status, with some of its land sold for residential development in the 1990s and 2000. It is now primarily used for minor commercial activity such as that of airline Air2there
Air2there
air2there is an airline in New Zealand. It began service in 2004, and is based at Paraparaumu Airport, north of Wellington. It operates scheduled services in the lower North Island and across Cook Strait.-Destinations:...
and for private and hobby flights.
Recently, the Kapiti Coast has seen a significant population surge and is one of New Zealand's fastest growing areas. This has led to considerable growth in all towns apart from Paekakariki, where development is geographically limited.
Economy
The Kapiti Coast is well-known for its cheeses and other products from LindaleLindale, New Zealand
Lindale is a locality just north of the Paraparaumu town centre in New Zealand's Kapiti Coast district. Originally involving just a Tourist and Agricultural Centre, gaining a reputation for cheese and more recently Lindale Farm itself, it has since acquired a university campus and a convention...
.
Many of the Kapiti Coast's residents are not employed in the area. Instead, they commute to jobs in Wellington. Tranz Metro
Tranz Metro
Tranz Metro, part of KiwiRail, is the operator of Metlink suburban trains owned by the Greater Wellington Regional Council in the Wellington Region of New Zealand....
operates electric commuter trains along a portion of the North Island Main Trunk Railway referred to as the Kapiti Line, and its Capital Connection commuter train from Palmerston North to Wellington provides a service for commuters north of the electric terminus in Waikanae.
Film and television
The Kapiti Coast area has also made appearances in television and film. Peter JacksonPeter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
(of Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
and King Kong
King Kong (2005 film)
King Kong is a 2005 fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a remake of the 1933 film of the same name and stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody. Andy Serkis, through performance capture, portrays Kong....
fame) is from Pukerua Bay and went to high school at Kapiti College in Raumati Beach. Scenes from both of the aforementioned movies have been filmed on the Kapiti Coast. During the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
, some of the seminal battle scenes in the fields in front of Minas Tirith were shot in part at Queen Elizabeth Park. Kapiti Island figured in King Kong with the scenes approaching the lost island of King Kong shot in the waters between Raumati Beach and the island.
Andrew Niccol
Andrew Niccol
Andrew M. Niccol is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director. He wrote and directed Gattaca, S1m0ne, In Time, and Lord of War. He also wrote and co-produced The Truman Show, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1999 and won a BAFTA award for Best...
, a screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, was born in Paraparaumu. He has written and produced (or co-produced) a number of movies, including Gattaca
Gattaca
Gattaca is a 1997 science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. It stars Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law with supporting roles played by Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal and Alan Arkin....
, The Truman Show
The Truman Show
The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
, S1m0ne
S1m0ne
S1m0ne is a 2002 science fiction comedy film written, produced and directed by Andrew Niccol. It stars Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Rachel Roberts, Evan Rachel Wood, Winona Ryder and Rebecca Romijn.-Plot:...
and Lord of War
Lord of War
Lord of War is a 2005 French-German-American action drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Nicolas Cage. It was released in the United States on September 16, 2005, with the DVD following on January 17, 2006 and the Blu-ray Disc on July 27, 2006.Cage plays an illegal arms...
. Also from Paraparaumu is young actor James Ashcroft who has acted in numerous TV productions, including occasional appearances in Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
.
Sport
Kapiti has been represented in rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
by the Kapiti Bears - Kapiti Coast Rugby League Club Inc. The Club was founded in the 1970s and was the home of Kiwi
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...
and Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
player Stephen Kearney
Stephen Kearney
Stephen Peter Kearney, ONZM is a professional rugby league football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Parramatta Eels in the NRL as well as the New Zealand national team...
. The Kapiti Bears operate out of Matthews Park, Menin Road, and are affiliated with the Wellington Rugby League Association.
In association football, Kapiti is represented by Kapiti Coast United
Kapiti Coast United
Kapiti Coast United is an association football club in New Zealand. Their home ground is Weka Park in Raumati Beach on the Kapiti Coast. The club was formed by a merger of the Kapiti Hearts and Paraparaumu United in 2003. The Kapiti Hearts, founded as the Raumati Hearts in 1960, were named after...
, who play at Weka Park
Weka Park
Weka Park is a public park in Raumati Beach on New Zealand's Kapiti Coast. It is the home ground of the local soccer team, Kapiti Coast United. Cricket is also played at the park, and it has a children's playground. The Wharemauku Stream flows along the boundary of the park, and a walking track...
in Raumati Beach. The club was formed by the merger of Raumati Hearts and Paraparaumu United in 2003.
Attractions
Otaki-Māori Racing Club is New Zealand's only Māori racing club; it was formed in 1886, and holds eight race meetings annually.Raumati Beach Shopping Village
Kapiti Fishing
New Zealand artist Shona Moller
Shona Moller
Shona Moller is a Wellington, New Zealand artist based on the Kapiti Coast. She has been a professional artist since 1999, exhibited London 2003. Her first solo London exhibition opened in 2008 in Bloomsbury. The 2008 London exhibition was a sell out....
has her studio and gallery located on Paraparaumu Beach
Paraparaumu Beach
Paraparaumu Beach is situated to the west of the 'township' of Paraparaumu, located 50 km north of Wellington, New Zealand. The area overlooks Kapiti Island....
Queen Elizabeth Park
Queen Elizabeth Park, New Zealand
Queen Elizabeth Park is a Wellington Regional Park located on the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand. The park contains the last area of natural dunes on the Kapiti Coast. The park is steeped in history including pa sites at Whareroa Beach and Wainui Beach....
contains the Wellington Tramway Museum
Wellington Tramway Museum
The Wellington Tramway Museum is at Queen Elizabeth Park in New Zealand, near the overbridge at MacKays Crossing between Paekakariki and Paraparaumu, and has been operating trams there since 1965...
and a number of coastal walking tracks. It also hosts orienteering
Orienteering
Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
events.
Steam Incorporated
Steam Incorporated
Steam Incorporated, often abbreviated to Steam Inc., is a railway heritage and preservation society based at the Paekakariki Railway Station, Paekakariki at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast, approximately 50 minutes north of Wellington on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. Unlike...
, a railway preservation society, is based at Paekakariki railway station, which is maintained by the Paekakariki Station Precinct Trust. Steam Inc.'s depot, known as "The Engine Shed", where locomotives
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
and rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
are restored and displayed, and the society is also one of the few operators of steam-hauled
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
excursions on New Zealand's national railway network
Rail transport in New Zealand
Rail transport in New Zealand consists of a network of gauge railway lines in both the North and South Islands. Rail services are focused primarily on freight, particularly bulk freight, with limited passenger services on some lines...
.
One of the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
's largest car collections is at the Southward Car Museum
Southward Car Museum
The Southward Car Museum is an automobile museum housing a collection of over 250 vehicles, as well as three aircraft, located on Otaihanga Road, Otaihanga, just north of Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island...
in Otaihanga, and a popular ridable miniature railway
Ridable miniature railway
A ridable miniature railway is a ground-level, large scale model railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are models of full-sized railway locomotives .-Overview:Typically they have a rail track gauge between and , though both larger and...
operates in Raumati Marine Gardens
Raumati Marine Gardens
Raumati Marine Gardens is a public park in Raumati Beach on New Zealand's Kapiti Coast. It is near the Tasman Sea just behind the beach, hence its name, and on the northern side of the park, the Wharemauku Stream reaches the ocean....
.