Parakai
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Parakai is a village in the North Island of New Zealand. It is sited 43 kilometres northwest of Auckland, close to the southern extremity of the Kaipara Harbour 3km from Helensville, New Zealand.
Parakai is noted for its hot springs with geothermal mineral water occurring naturally. There is a complex of mineral pools and recreational activities.
The Parakai School community catchment area reaches from the immediate flats surrounding the Kaipara River and up the South Kaipara Heads Peninsula.
The main population of Parakai sits in the vicinity of Parkhurst Rd, the main road leading out to South Head. South Head incorporates a significant agricultural, dairy farming, sheep farming and deer farming community. Closer to the town centre is the Fordyce farming community which is mostly agricultural.
The small Maori village situated at Haranui Marae is about 25km from Parakai and is an integral part of the Parakai community.
A major attraction of Parakai is Parakai Aerodrome, which has a 7m x 760m rolled limestone runway. Hangarage, maintenance, fuel and other services are available to visiting or local aviators and Skydiving draws people from all over the greater Auckland area. A wide range of light aviation activity has been carried out from Parakai since the 1960s.
Parakai Rugby Club existed between 1918 and 1937 before amalgamating with the Helensville Rugby club in 1943.
[edit] Parakai history
Parakai gets it name, naturally, from the nearby Kaipara Harbour and Kaipara River - the word 'Kaipara' simply being reversed to avoid confusion.
The first European settler was Charles Fordyce, who moved to the area in 1875. The Hot Springs Reserve was gazetted under the Public Domains Act in 1881 and handed to the Helensville Town Board for administration - although at that stage the "springs" were merely a mud hole set amongst Ti Tree and scrub in the reserve.
By 1892 many improvements had been carried out at the springs, with proper baths set up for bathers. A four-room bathhouse was set up in that decade. In the early part of the 20th century the national government provided funds for the further development of the springs with new buildings and baths. Opened in 1907, they were an instant hit with the public.
In 1908 the first public boarding house opened by the "Helensville Hot Springs", the same year the town officially became called Parakai.
The first large public bath was opened in 1912, along with tennis courts and bowling greens in the Parakai Domain. Shortly after a sports pavilion was built, and the towns now two boarding houses were always packed as visitors flocked to the town.
Around World War I two more large boarding houses were established, and by the mid 1920s Parakai was in the midst of a boom, with more visitors on weekends and public holidays than the accommodation could cater for. The natural thermal springs had gained a reputation for relieving many health problems.
In 1926 the Helensville Swimming Club settled on the Parakai baths as its official venue - one still used to this day. During the second World War, the pools became popular with visiting American servicemen.
Disaster struck the town in the 1950s, with the two main boarding houses burning down within a year of each other - Parakai House in 1956 and Springside the following year. The separate Billiard Hall building escaped the fire and was later moved to Parakai Airfield as a club room and parachute packing room.
In 1958 Parakai Primary School was opened on large grounds in Fordyce Road. A major programme of rebuilding over the past decade has seen the school totally modernised.
In 2007, a new block of shops is under construction.
