Pauatahanui

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Pauatahanui is at the far eastern end of the Pauatahanui Inlet, an arm of the Porirua Harbour. At the 2001 census, its population (including nearby wholly rural areas) was 831: 429 males and 402 females. This was a 23.1% increase in population since the previous census in 1996. State Highway 58 skims the southern fringe of the town: to the east it leads to Judgeford, just up the valley, and over the hills to Lower Hutt in the Hutt Valley; and to the west it travels along the southern shore of the Pauatahanui Inlet through Whitby and Golden Gate to meet New Zealand's most important road, State Highway 1, at Paremata at the mouth of the Inlet.

The Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve has boardwalks and barbecue areas for visitors. As the Pauatahanui Inlet is the only large estuarine wetland left in the lower North Island, efforts have been made to reduce human impact on the environment and to restore damaged areas.

Pauatahanui School is notable as being one of the very few schools in New Zealand to be over 150 years old. It turned 150 in 2005.