Maraetai is one of the towns which make up Manukau city

Manukau

Manukau City was a large territorial authority in Auckland, New Zealand. The city was sometimes referred to as South Auckland, but this term did not possess official recognition and did not encompass areas like East Auckland, which was previously within the official boundaries of Manukau City...

 and is the easternmost suburb of greater Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 in 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...

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The closest town Beachlands

Beachlands, New Zealand

Beachlands is an outer suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand. It is located on the "Pohutakawa Coast" and in close proximity to Maraetai. The two areas have a combined population of around 4422 ....

 lies approximately 4km to the West. Its name is Māori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

 meaning "marae

Marae

A marae malae , malae , is a communal or sacred place which serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies...

 by the sea". Maraetai was the original name for the smooth, calm tidal passage now known as Tamaki Strait

Tamaki Strait

The Tamaki Strait is one of several passes between the islands of the inner Hauraki Gulf, close to the mouth of the Waitemata Harbour near Auckland city in New Zealand....

, which is sheltered by Te Motu Arai-roa ("The Long Sheltering Island") now called Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island is an island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, located about from Auckland.The island is the second-largest in the Hauraki Gulf after Great Barrier Island. It is the most populated, with nearly 8,000 permanent residents plus another estimated 3,400 who have second or holiday homes...

. The site of present day Maraetai suburb was formerly the Pā

Pa (Maori)

The word pā can refer to any Māori village or settlement, but in traditional use it referred to hillforts fortified with palisades and defensive terraces and also to fortified villages. They first came into being about 1450. They are located mainly in the North Island north of lake Taupo...

 and kāinga (village) settlement known as Pohaturoa. To the Pākehā

Pakeha

Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...

 people Maraetai means "Meeting place by the sea". One of the better known functions of a Marae is to facilitate Hui

Hui (Maori assembly)

A hui is a New Zealand term for a social gathering or assembly.Originally a Māori language word, it was used by Europeans as early as 1846 when referring to Māori gatherings - but is now increasingly used in New Zealand English to describe events that are not exclusively Māori....

 (tribal gatherings).
Maraetai's residents do not use city mains water and instead must use water tanks and bore water.http://www.times.co.nz/cms/news/2008/02/art100019231.php Many residents prefer it to be kept this way to maintain the town's rural aspect. Maraetai's beaches are popular destinations for other Aucklanders and are often crowded in the summer months. The town is also home to the controversial New Zealand Pastor Brian Tamaki

Brian Tamaki

Brian Raymond Tamaki heads Destiny Church, a Pentecostal Christian organisation in New Zealand which advocates strict adherence to fundamentalist biblical morality, and is notable for its position against homosexuality, its patriarchal views and for its calls for a return to biblical conservative...

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