Paekakariki 5.19

Paekakariki, prior to 1905 also known as Paikakariki, is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It is north of Porirua and northeast of Wellington, the nation's capital city. The town's name in Māori means "perching place of the kakariki (green parrot)".Paekakariki's population at the 2006 New Zealand census was 1,602. This figure increased to 1,665 in the 2013 census.Paekakariki lies on a narrowing of the thin coastal plain between the Tasman Sea and the Akatarawa Ranges (a spur of the Tararua Ranges) and was an important transportation node. To the south, State Highway 1 climbs towards Porirua; to the north the plains extend inland from the Kapiti Coast; at Paekakariki the highway and North Island Main Trunk railway run close together between the coast and hills.HistoryImmediately prior to European settlement the area had a violent history, due mainly to the presence of the great Māori warrior leader Te Rauparaha, whose pa was on nearby Kapiti Island. He died in 1849, the same year that a road connecting Paekakariki with Porirua was completed.