Waitemata Harbour

Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours surrounding the city. The Waitematā forms the north and east coasts of the Auckland isthmus. It is matched on the south by the shallower waters of Manukau Harbour.

With a size of 70 square miles, it connects the city's main port and the Auckland waterfront to the Hauraki Gulf, and the Pacific Ocean. It is sheltered from Pacific storms by Auckland's North Shore, Rangitoto Island and Waiheke Island.

The oldest Māori name of the harbour was Te Whanga-nui o Toi (The Big Bay of Toi), named after Toi, an early Māori explorer.

The name Waitematā means "Te Mata Waters", and refers to Te Mata or Boat Rock, which lies in mid-harbour off Kauri Point. A popular translation of Waitematā is "The Obsidian Waters", referring to obsidian rock (matā). Another popular translation, derived from this, is "The Sparkling Waters", as the harbour waters were said to glint like the volcanic glass obsidian. However, this is incorrect, as grammatically Waitematā could not mean this.

The harbour is an arm of the Hauraki Gulf, extending west for eighteen kilometres from the end of the Rangitoto Channel. Its entrance is between North Head and Bastion Point in the south. The westernmost ends of the harbour extend past Whenuapai in the northwest, and to Te Atatu in the west, as well as forming the estuarial arm known as the Whau River in the southwest.

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