Kaipara Harbour
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The Kaipara Harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea located near the base of the North Auckland Peninsula on the western side of the North Island of New Zealand.
The harbour is one of the largest in the world. It is a very broad shallow harbour covering an area of 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) and has more than 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) of shoreline.[1] It extends for some 60 kilometres (37 mi) from north to south, and has a 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) wide entrance to the Tasman Sea halfway along its length. The Wairoa River has its outflow into the northern end of the harbour. Several large arms extend into the interior of the peninsula at the northeast of the harbour, one of them ending near the town of Maungaturoto, only ten kilometres (6 mi) from the Pacific Ocean coast.
Although officially called a harbour, the Kaipara is rarely used for shipping, owing to the treacherous tides and bars at its mouth. For this reason, no large settlements lie close to its shores, although many small communities lie along its coastline.
According to tradition, the Kaipara is called after a hāngi Taramainuku hosted at Pouto in the 15th century CE, at which the para fern (Marattia salicina) was served. "Kai" means food in the Māori language.[2]
Administratively, the lower part of the harbour lies within the Auckland Region, while the upper half is within the Northland Region.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Kaipara Harbour and kauri towns". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- ^ Byrne, Brian (2002). The Unknown Kaipara, p 4. ISBN 0-473-08831-2.
