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.
Pukerua Bay
(with large thanks to Wikipedia)
Pukerua Bay is a small seaside community at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast, but it is the northernmost suburb of Porirua. It is 12 km north of the Porirua City Centre. In Te Reo, the words puke rua literally mean two hills. It is not clear which hills are referred to, but the area is beautifully scenic with lots of hills and gullies and a first view of Kapiti Island as you head north. The majority of Pukerua Bay is situated in a saddle between hills, about 60-90m above sea level, offering sea views (and views of Kapiti Island in the north) from most houses. The coast around Pukerua Bay is fairly steep, with only a few houses nestled in a row behind the two sandy beach areas. The population of the suburb is about 1,700 people.
The earliest people known to have lived in the area around Pukerua Bay were the Ngati Iri Māori tribe and later the Muaupoko, who built Waimapihi Pā near today's seaward end of Rawhiti Road. Pukerua Bay was on the main road for Māori travellers going north or south. About 1822, it was invaded from Kapiti Island by Te Rauparaha and his Ngati Toa people. According to oral tradition, the Muaupoko people fled up the gorge of the Waimapihi stream (on the Ohariu Fault line), abandoning their treasures on the way.
The land blocks originally surveyed (Wairaka in the west, Waimapihi and Pukerua in the east) were sold to settlers from Europe for farming in the late 19th century. Charles Gray was the first resident to subdivide and sell residential sections in Pukerua Bay, in the early 20th century.
Pukerua Bay's development history is curious because the railway went through it (1886) for years before there was good road access (1940), so it grew at first on the waterfront as a weekend destination. The original railway station was named "Pukerua" until it was changed briefly to Waimapihi in the 1920s and then to "Pukerua Bay" to avoid confusion with "Pukerau" in the South Island.
By the end of the 1920s, Pukerua Bay numbered 100 houses, a small school on land donated by Charles Gray, and a few small stores. Electricity was put through from Plimmerton to Pukerua Bay in 1927 and in 1928 the track between Plimmerton and Pukerua Bay was formed into a narrow road. The beach remained the main attraction for weekend visitors from Wellington (by steam train) as there was still no highway and no bridge at Paremata.
Most of the clifftop development dates from after World War II and Pukerua Bay has its own branch of the Returned Services Association. Pukerua Bay experienced significant growth in the 1950s and 1960s, being connected to Wellington via the (by then double-tracked) railway line and accessible from north and south via SH1. In 1973, Pukerua Bay joined Porirua City Council to get the issues of water and sewerage connection addressed.
Notable residents
Pukerua Bay is the birthplace and childhood home of film director Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings fame (among others), whose first feature film, Bad Taste, was filmed there.
Former residents include poets Louis Johnston, Sam Hunt, James K. Baxter, Denis Glover, Meg Campbell, Alistair Campbell and actress Davina Whitehouse.
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. Be very careful with parking and accessing cache, there is little good parking here and cars can come around the corner unexpectedly. Also please use stealth.
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.