ToP (Tour of Porirua) continues, with some 20+ caches to be placed all around our great city of Porirua.
Porirua History
(with thanks to Wikipedia)
The name "Porirua" has a Māori origin: it may represent a variant of pari-rua ("two tides"), a reference to the two arms of the Porirua Harbour. In the 19th century the name designated a land-registration district that stretched from Kaiwharawhara (or Kaiwara) on the north-west shore of Wellington Harbour northwards to and around Porirua Harbour. The road climbing the hill from Kaiwharawhara towards Ngaio and Khandallah still bears the name "Old Porirua Road".
In the late 1940s state planning envisaged Porirua becoming a satellite city of Wellington with state housing. The name Porirua was first applied to a council in 1961 when Makara County, to the west of Wellington, was abolished, the mostly rural western part becoming the Makara Ward of Hutt County and the rapidly growing eastern urban portion (including Titahi Bay) becoming the Borough of Porirua. Four years later the population was officially estimated at over the 20,000 threshold then necessary for Porirua to be declared a city. Since then Porirua has grown to a city population approaching 51,000, with state housing no longer in the majority. Major territorial additions to the city occurred in 1973 and 1988 as part of the reduction and eventual abolition of Hutt County.
Porirua is largely formed around the arms of the Porirua Harbour and the coastline facing out to Cook Strait and the north-eastern parts of the South Island. Most of the populated areas of Porirua are coastal: Camborne, Karehana Bay, Mana, Onepoto, Papakowhai, Paremata, Pauatahanui, Plimmerton, Pukerua Bay, Takapuwahia, Titahi Bay and Whitby all have direct access to coastal parks and recreation reserves. Several suburbs without direct coastal access, including Aotea, Ascot Park and Ranui Heights, have substantial portions with good views over the harbour. Elsdon, formerly known as Prosser Block, lost access to the harbour as a result of reclamation work, especially during the 1960s. Much of the existing city centre, north of Parumoana Street and east of Titahi Bay Road, was built upon this landfill.
Papakowhai
The name literally means “Yellow Earth”. Most of the streets in the suburb are named after Scottish rivers. Why for each of these? No answer found so far in research…
Papakowhai is also home to the Royal New Zealand Police College, the New Zealand Police Museum, and Aotea Lagoon recreational area.
Royal New Zealand Police College
The Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC) is the central training institution for police recruits and police officers in New Zealand. It is located at Papakowhai.
Recruits at the college undergo a rigorous five-month training course. There are around six intakes (called "wings") of recruits admitted each year. Wings consist of 40 to 100 recruits. Trainees are taught a variety of skills relating to police vehicle use, firearms use, forensic techniques, negotiation and cultural awareness. Successful graduates become probationary constables for a period of two years.
As well as ongoing officer training, the RNZPC hosts other non-police related courses, conferences and events. The college is also home to the New Zealand Police Museum, and the Police Information & Communications Technology Service Centre (where information technology for the whole of Police is managed).
The Memorial Building has a wall covered with plaques dedicated to New Zealand Police Officers killed on duty.
The college was opened by HRH Prince Charles on April 1, 1981. Prior to this, the police force's training facility was based at Trentham Military Camp.
New Zealand Police Museum
Located on the campus of the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua the Museum is in perfect context. Established in 1908 the collection was originally modelled on Scotland Yard’s Black Museum. Today the Museum houses and exhibits a large collection of New Zealand Police cultural property and criminal cases. A modern facility, the New Zealand Police Museum provides education programmes to all ages, using examples of policing excellence and telling the stories of some of the country's more infamous crimes.
The Museum is open between 10am and 5pm, seven days a week (excluding Good Friday and Christmas Day). General admission is free, charges apply for guided tours and programmes and must be booked in advance.
Aotea Lagoon
Aotea Lagoon is an artificial lagoon surrounded by a 7-hectare (17-acre) public park. Aotea and two nearby lagoons were created when major arterial transport links were realigned from the natural coastline to land reclaimed from Porirua Harbour.
The lagoon is 5 hectares (12 acres) of seawater, connected to Porirua Harbour by a culvert under the model windmill. Poor water quality in the lagoon means swimming is prohibited.
The park's centrepiece is a path around the lagoon. There are additional barbeques, picnic facilities, a botanical garden, a children’s playground and a splash pad opened to much fanfare in 2018. The Waitangirua Lions built a ¼ scale ridable miniature railway with an 833-metre (2,733 ft) loop track including two bridges and a tunnel. The train runs Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, from Pipitea Station south-west of the lagoon.
The Cache
You are looking for a peanut butter style container, camoflauged, and it should not be easily stumbled upon. Please ensure that you replace it exactly as found so that it doesn’t move away on its own!
Bring your own writing utensil. Online logs that do not match the logbook will be deleted unless previously arranged with the CO. General practice is to log your find online within two weeks of making the find in the field, unless otherwise arranged with the CO.
Also make sure that you note the code in the logbook, as you will need this for some of the caches later on in the series.