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.

Transmission Gully

(With thanks to various sources, including Waka Kotahi and Wikipedia).

Transmission Gully is a chain of steep-sided, isolated valleys in the Wellington Region, and runs approximately north–south between the Kapiti Coast and Tawa, through hills east of Porirua.

The gully's name comes from the 110,000-volt transmission line that formerly ran through it. The line, built in 1924, linked Wellington to the Mangahao hydroelectric station near Shannon, and later to the wider North Island transmission grid.

Despite lying mostly within the boundaries of Porirua City, Transmission Gully is sparsely populated, and most of the land is farmland, forest, or scrub. There are some areas with lifestyle blocks, particularly near Pauatahanui, and Transmission Gully is also home to Battle Hill Farm Forest Park.

The 1879 proposal for a Haywards–Plimmerton Line railway route north from Wellington envisaged using these valleys; the line was never built.

The Transmission Gully Motorway (also known as Te Ara Nui o Te Rangihaeata) running through the gully was proposed in the 1920s, and debated for decades, until work finally began in 2014, with an estimated completion in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic and constuction issues forced delay after delay, until the road finally opened to the public on 31 March 2022.  It became part of State Highway 1 when completed. The old portion of SH1 that the new highway bypasses was re-designated as SH59.

The Motorway has 4 entrances/exits  Coming from north to south, one can get on at Mackays Crossing in Paekakariki (going southbound only, no access if heading north on SH59), on and off ramps at Pauatahanui, on and off ramps at Waitangirua/Whitby, and on and off ramps at Linden/Kenepuru.

Twenty-five new structures equating to a total length of more than a kilometre have been constructed along the route. The largest of these, Te Ara a Toa (Bridge 20) over Cannons Creek, stretches 230 metres in length and sit 60 metres above the valley floor.

Extensive work was done on the very long ramp at Waitangirua, and it is along this “ramp”, or new side road, that the cache is placed. There is no stopping allowed anywhere on the motorway itself, and there are no cycle lanes either.

The Cache

The cache is a magnetic container, with a log book only. Please make sure you replace the cache as found.

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.

Bring your own writing utensil.

**IMPOTRANT SAFETY NOTE** You should only access this cache in the western direction of travel (away from the motorway). You can get to it from the other direction, but you will park much further away and need to cross the road to get to the correct side. Watch any children with you, as cars do move quickly here and drivers do not expect pedestrians.