Ōtaki Estuary Viewing Platform
This platform was completed in 2011 by the 'Friends Of The Ōtaki River'. It provides spectacular views of the estuary and out to Kāpiti Island. They have worked strategically with the local Iwi (Ngāti Raukawa), Ōtaki community, Department of Conservation, Fish & Game, Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Kāpiti Coast District Council, to enhance the area's ecological and recreational values.
More than 10km of walkways have been developed and they have planted more than 60,000 native trees along the edge of the river and the walkways. The development of this area has helped restore the native biodiversity to the lagoon, silt flats and the estuary itself. The area is popular for fishing, whitebaiting, game bird hunting, swimming, walking, bird watching and picnicing.
Historic Whaling Pot (with old whale bone)
Whaling was very popular with the early settlers of New Zealand. By the mid 1830's, there were around 5 whaling stations around the island as well as more on the mainland. Each of these may have employed up to 40 people. The last of the stations was abandoned around 1850 when whaling in the region became less profitable.
This pot (made in Scotland around the early 1800's) was originally used by a whaling station on Kāpiti Island to boil down whale blubber. It was removed from Kāpiti Island about 100 years ago and was erected at the viewing platform, with the accompanying whale bone, after it was donated to the Ōtaki Museum in 2018.
Fortunately, since 1978, whales within New Zealand’s 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone are protected under the Marine Mammals Protection Act and New Zealand is recognised as a world leader in marine mammal protection.
You can park within 10 to 20m of the cache.
The cache is a small magnentic nano. Please BYOP and replace exactly as found.
Any logs that do not correspond with the signed logbook may be deleted.
The benches have been reinstalled after they were stolen a few years back. We recently needed to replace a missing cache, so we have gone back to the original type of hiding place. Coordinates and hint have been updated.