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Porirua
City in the North Island of New Zealand

Porirua

Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand and is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.

Plan a trip to Porirua→From Christchurch

The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide sweeping up both reaches". It almost completely surrounds Porirua Harbour at the southern end of the Kāpiti Coast. As of 2023, Porirua has a population of 62,400 people,

and is a diverse city with 26.5% of the population identifying as Pasifika and 23.0% of the population identifying as Māori.

Get in

Getting to Porirua

From Wellington City or Petone, take State Highway 1 up the Ngauranga Gorge and glide down the motorway to the Porirua offramp. The alternative route (compulsory for cyclists) from Johnsonville follows Middleton Road then goes through Tawa.

  1. 01
    Kenepuru
  2. 02
    Porirua
  3. 03
    Paremata
  4. 04
    Mana
See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Colonial Knob
  2. 02
    Gear Homestead
  3. 03
    New Zealand Police Museum
  4. 04
    Pataka Art + Museum

    There is a Japanese Garden (contributed by sister city Nishio) and at the adjacent public library you can see one of the North Island's best genealogical collections.

  5. 05
    Pauatahanui Inlet

    At its eastern end is a wildlife sanctuary that has one of the highest densities of copepods (small crustaceans) in the world.

  6. 06
    Plimmerton Beach

    Maybe watch yet another future world champion windsurfer or boardsailor beating the breezes.

Do

Things to do

Porirua has plenty to keep you busy. Enjoy the traditional activities of golfing or bowling. Go go-karting or horse riding. Play at the beach, the city surrounds Porirua Harbour. Adrenalin Forest, Okowai Road,. 10AM–2.00PM (last entry). Outdoor aerial adventure park. Go in the trees up to 31m. 3 hours with plenty to try. Book ahead. $52 adults, $37 under 18 (height restriction).

  1. 01
    Battle Hill Farm Forest Park

    You can view the site of one of the "Hutt Valley Campaign" battles of 1846.

Eat

Where to eat

The usual bakeries, fast-food restaurants (Porirua was home to the first McDonald's restaurant in New Zealand, which opened in June 1976), dairies (convenience stores), fish & chip shops and Chinese takeaways can be found around the city. The North City Mall (opposite Porirua train station) has a large foodcourt with the usual Asian and fast food.

  1. 01
    Curry Village

    19 Hartham Place North (between Titahi Bay Rd and Lyttelton Ave),.

  2. 02
    Top Taste Restaurant

    1 Hagley St (near the intersection with Lyttelton Ave, south of Te Rauparaha Park), info@toptaste.co.nz.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.