Whitireia Park

There are three different options for maintained tracks through the park, but you're welcome to leave the track roam where ever you want.

Our tracks are shared with cyclists, dog walkers and sometimes horses, so keep an eye out.

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All of the tracks and trails available in the park can be used by cyclists, and if you're looking to challenge your quads, head off track across the farmland.

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Dogs welcome but must be under control at all times and on the lead in: 

• Onehunga Bay which is popular with picnickers and family
• Around the coast where little blue penguins nest

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If you're looking for a place to roam wide-open spaces on horseback, leaving the tracks behind, then Whitireia is the place for you.

Significant portions of the Te Onepoto loop are not accessible to horses, but from the carpark at Onehunga Bay you can point your horse in any direction and take off. Much of the land is fenced, due to farming which no longer happens, but you are welcome to go through gates and explore.

Just remember to steer clear of the golf course.

Follow the horse riding code for all regional parks.

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Whitireia Park is very popular with families because of its safe swimming beaches.

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Whether it's snorkelling or scuba diving or surf casting you love, Whitireia has you covered.

When you drive into the park on Whitireia Road, turn left before the carpark at Onehunga Bay and head towards Kaitawa Point. Most people fish off the point of Onehunga Bay, and dive between there and Kaitawa Point.

This spot is great when the southerly wind picks up and the south coast is only good for the surfers. At the end of the road, near the car park it offers easy dives, and if you're up for a bit of a hike past the point where the road stops, there are more challenging dives.

Because this area is quite sheltered by Mana Island, you could see large groups of juvenile fish, as well as stingrays and seahorses.

For more information on diving in the area, see Scuba Diving NZ. 

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Climbers have been visiting Whitireia Park since the 1930s. In the 1980s single bolts began to be used and in 2005, double bolt belays were installed at the top of most routes.

This area, just below the Maunga Whitireia track, has 98 routes over a number of walls and boulders.

For more information on climbing at the park, including where to find walls and routes, see Climb NZ. 

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Onehunga Bay in the park is a popular spot for kite surfing. When you're told about the spot, people might refer to it as "Plimmerton" but the launch spot is actually in the park from Onehunga Beach.

This spot is great in a westerly or north westerly wind but becomes gusty and dangerous in north and north easterly winds.

For more information on safety and water conditions, see the Wellington Kite Surf website. 

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Whitireia Park is known to model aeroplane pilots a world-class spot for slope soaring. For more information on the site and conditions of flying, see the Wellington Model Aeroplane Club website. 

The park is open to public, so anyone can fly there, but flyers are encouraged to join Model Flying New Zealand. 

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So much of the work done in the regional parks wouldn't be possible without the help of people in our communities. If you want to contribute to the care of Whitireia Park, you can join one of our community groups.

Volunteering in our parks

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There are lots of good places to fly drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in our parks and reserves and there are some places where they should not be flown. No matter where you want to fly, you need to be aware of New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) rules and fly your drone safely. 

Where can I fly my drone in parks?

Suggested areas suitable for flying UAVs include:

• The ‘concrete pads’ and cliff top area at Whitireia Park near the park entrance, but not within 100 metres of the Radio New Zealand aerial masts and associated infrastructure, or  and any paragliders, hang gliders or kite surfers in the park.

Avoid:

• Recreation trails when busy. Unless you can obtain ‘prior permission of all the park users you wish to fly above’ (as per CAA rule).
• Any areas where organised events or gatherings are taking place, unless permission has been obtained for example, as part of an event permit. 
• Anywhere in parks where paragliders take off or fly over. This includes Mt Climie In Pakuratahi park, Whitireia Park cliffs, Baring Head/ Orura-pouanui southern cliffs. If there is paraglider in airspace nearby, please stop flying your drone.

Six key rules all drone users should know:

• Always fly below 120 metres
• Don’t fly over people without permission
• Keep your drone in sight at all times
• Stay 4 km away from aerodromes and helipads
• Give way to all manned aircraft. Land immediately
• Don’t fly over property without permission

Drones must not be flown in the following places:

• All designated picnic areas. This includes picnic areas in Kaitoke Regional Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Tunnel Gully Recreation Area, the lower dam area at Wainuiomata Recreation Area, Cannon Point in Akatarawa Forest, Baring Head lighthouse precinct in East Harbour Regional Park, and Onehunga Bay car park and picnic area in Whitireia Park.
• All designated camping areas. This includes Kaitoke Regional Park and Battle Hill Farm Forest Park.
• Areas of Battle Hill Farm Forest Park and Belmont Regional Park seasonally closed for lambing and calving
• All wetland and nesting or roosting bird habitat areas in parks
• Closer than 30 metres to any vehicles, boats or park buildings or structures (note that Wellington Harbour is all controlled airspace, if you do have permission to fly over the harbour, please stay at least 200 metres away from large commercial shipping).
• In other locations when asked to cease flying by a Park Ranger or member of the public 

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Whitireia is a significant area of cultural and spiritual importance to Ngāti Toa but its history goes back even further - to the explorer and navigator Kupe.

KUPE AND WHITIREIA

Kupe came across the Pacific in search of the giant wheke (octopus).  Kupe eventually caught and killed Te Wheke o Muturangi at the entrance to the Tory Channel, in the Cook Strait.

While he was chasing the wheke, Kupe became the first person to circumnavigate Aotearoa, naming places as he moved around the country, many of which are still in common usage today - Whitereia is one the places he named. 

Kupe discovered Whitireia while searching for his canoe, which had blown out to sea while he was climbing to the top of Komanagarautawhiri (south of Tītahi Bay) for a better view of Cook Strait in search of the wheke. Eventually, the canoe came ashore at Onehunga Bay (at the entrance to Te Awarua-o-Porirua). As a gesture of appreciation to the Atua (deities and spiritual forces) which had responded to his incantations by returning his canoe to him, Kupe decided to leave his anchor stone named Maungaroa behind at Onehunga Bay.

In the 1840s European soldiers chipped pieces off the stone, possibly by firing a cannon at it. Shortly afterwards some of these men drowned in a boating accident. Ngāti Toa Rangatira, who were by then guardians of Maungaroa, regarded this as punishment. Te Kahurangi spoke "Think you, friend, that they could have drowned on a calm day by ordinary means? No! It was the anger of the gods at the act of desecration. Kaitoa!"

In 1908 the stone and its fragments were taken by the Dominion Museum for safekeeping and it is now held at Te Papa Tongarewa. As present-day kaitiaki of Whitireia, Ngāti Toa Rangatira also has obligations as kaitiaki of Kupe's ancient anchor stone. A replica of the stone is located by the carpark at Ohehunga Bay.

EARLY MĀORI 

It is believed the earliest inhabitants of the Porirua district were Tini Maruiwi, who were moa-hunters and when engaged in hunting used to camp in the area. Soon after these people, a migrant from Hawaiki named Whatonga and his two sons Tara and Tauoki arrived with their tribes - Ngāti Tara and Ngāti Ira, about 1100 CE.

It is presumed that these two tribes remained in possession of the land until the 1820s when Ngāti Toa Rangatira led by Te Rauparaha and his nephew Te Rangihaeata invaded and took control of the Porirua District.

Ngāti Toa Rangatira trace their ancestry to the Tainui people who migrated from Kawhia down the west coast and settled in the Porirua area which, like their original home, was a coastal area with harbour waters equally rich in fish, stingrays and shellfish (kai moana).

There are a number of pa sites in Whitireia Park - if you use your imagination you can still see the terraces where kumara was grown.

EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT

Captain Cook visited Porirua harbour in 1769 but the first Europeans to settle were whalers in the 1820s - Thom's Station was built where Ngati Toa Domain is today. William Jillet was one of the first European farmers arriving in 1864. He set up a horse-drawn bus service between Titahi Bay and Porirua.

In the early 1920s Titahi Bay and surrounding areas were a popular tourist destination - visitors would catch the train to Porirua and then the "bus" still drawn by horses to Titahi Bay.

The Titahi Bay transmitter was opened in 1937. You can still see the art deco building when you came along Whitireia Road. A 230-metre mast meant it's signal was used for shortwave broadcasts to as far away as Antarctica. Due to the corrosion, the tall mast was taken down in 2016. 

A major fire swept through a significant part of the park in 2010.

FIND OUT MORE:

• Porirua Library
• Te Rauparaha - dictionary of New Zealand Biography

Park history

The park was set up by land acquisition from the Otaki and Porirua Trust Board and the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand with the generous co-operation of the Raukawa Trustees and the Ngāti Toa people.

A substantial donation by Smith and Smith Ltd, celebrating their centenary in 1975, enabled the purchase and development of the park to proceed, and it was established in 1976.

Since then Trust Porirua has contributed funding for track upgrades, and the Defence Force has removed abandoned motor vehicle bodies from the park.

GWRC has looked after the park since 2011 and its management is guided by a park board comprising of three Greater Wellington Regional Council members and three Ngāti Toa members.

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