Waikanae

Waikanae (English pronunciation: /ˌwaɪkəˈnaɪ/, Māori pronunciation: [ˈwaikaˈnaɛ]) is a small town on New Zealand's Kapiti Coast. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (wai) "of the yellow-eyed mullet".

The township lies about 60 kilometres north of Wellington: New Zealand's capital city; between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Otaki, 15 kilometres to the northeast.

Another settlement called Waikanae Beach exists near Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

Waikanae lies in a setting of open farmland and forest between the Tasman Sea and the rugged Tararua Ranges. Together with its neighbouring settlement of Waikanae Beach, the township comprises a quiet locale, popular with families and retirees. Just north of Waikanae is the small community of Peka Peka.

The area surrounding the township is notable for its 5-kilometre long beach and its wide river mouth opposite Kapiti Island, which lies four kilometres offshore in the Tasman Sea. The Kapiti Island Nature Reserve includes the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve. The Te Araroa Trail leads through Waikanae.

The waters between Waikanae Beach and Kapiti Island comprise the Kapiti Marine Reserve, with whales and Hector's dolphins sometimes spotted on their migration routes through the narrow corridor. Inland, behind Waikanae, are the bush clad Hemi Matenga Reserve, the Tararua Ranges and the Akatarawa Valley, home to a popular conservation park, Staglands Wildlife Reserve. A road through the valley over the Akatarawa Saddle provides a link with the Hutt Valley via Reikorangi and Cloustonville. The headwaters of the Waikanae River form where a number of streams converge in the inland Reikorangi Basin. From here the river runs through a gap in the foothills, across the coastal plain and sand dunes to the sea.

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