Maungaraki is a suburb of Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Its council has adopted the name Hutt City Council, but neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This alternative name can lead to confusion, as there are two cities in the...

 City situated at the bottom of the North 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...

. The suburb is located on the western hills of the Hutt Valley with access to the area via State Highway 2.

Maungaraki translated from 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...

 means: "mountains to the north", this probably references the Māori pā

Pa

-Places:* Pâ, a town in Burkina Faso* Pâ Department, a department in Burkina Faso* PA postcode area, in Scotland* Province of Palermo, Italy* Palo Alto, California* Panama, ISO country code** .pa, the country code top level domain for Panama...

 to the south that once stood at Pito-one (Petone

Petone

Petone is a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the narrow triangular plain of the Hutt River, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour...

).

Housing increased rapidly in the area during the 1960s, at the time it was the largest local government subdivision in New Zealand.

The main road through the suburb, Dowse Drive, is named after the Lower Hutt Mayor in the 1960s, Percy Dowse. Most of the other roads in the suburb have tree names.

Maungaraki's tennis club has 3 courts and a club house.