27-578: Kaitoke Regional Park is regional park located at Kaitoke , northeast of Upper Hutt , in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's southern North Island . It is administered by Wellington Regional Council , alongside the adjacent Hutt Water Collection Area . The park covers 2,860 ha (7,100 acres) in the Tararua Ranges foothills. The steep hills and Hutt River gorge are covered in native trees. The conifer-broadleaf rainforest at
54-534: A filming location for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , the park also has sightseeing spots and guided tours for Tolkien tourists . The park opened from 6am to 6pm between April and September, and from 6am to 9pm between October and March. Dogs are permitted, but fireworks are not. Kaitoke Kaitoke (sometimes called Pakuratahi), part of Upper Hutt City, is a locality in
81-683: A habitat for a range of birds and native fish, including tūī , kererū , piwakawaka (fantails), korimako (bellbirds) or miromiro (tomtits). Before European settlement, local Māori had established several routes between Wairarapa and Wellington through the Kaitoke area. Whakataka Pā is believed to have established at Te Mārua before 1820. A European road was opened in 1856. Many of the forests were cleared by early European settlers to provide timber, farm supplies, water and transport routes. Some areas of untouched forest were purchased by local authorities in 1939 for water supplies. Further adjacent land
108-661: A wheelchair-accessible suspension bridge was opened across Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River. During the same month, major restoration work began to make the park a carbon sink for the Wellington Region . The park consists mostly native bush, but there are also walking tracks and swimming holes. The most popular loop walk in the park leads through the valley of the upper Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River . The suspension bridge and some forest tracks are wheelchair accessible. There are several sites for camping, with drinking water, toilet, power outlet and electric barbecue facilities. Campfires are permitted, but not near riverbeds or tent sites. As
135-709: A whole. During the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the North and South islands were connected by a vast coastal plain which formed at the South Taranaki Bight . During this period, most of the North Island was covered in thorn scrubland and forest , while the modern-day Northland Peninsula was a subtropical rainforest . Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, eventually separating
162-465: Is in the North Island", "my mother lives in the North Island". Maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions use North Island without "the". According to Māori mythology , the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the demigod Māui . Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught a great fish and pulled it right up from
189-448: The 28th-most-populous island in the world. Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei , Auckland , Hamilton , Tauranga , Rotorua , Gisborne , New Plymouth , Napier , Hastings , Whanganui , Palmerston North , and New Zealand's capital city Wellington , which is located at the south-west tip of the island. The island has been known internationally as
216-804: The Hutt Water Collection Area . The first Youth Hostel in the North Island was established in the old Ministry of Works barracks at Kaitoke, which were behind the Post Office and alongside the Kaitoke Hall. The Post Office, the Hall, and the Youth Hostel were the only buildings of the settlement. Other facilities include a small airstrip operated by the Upper Valley Gliding Club for the purposes of gliding
243-566: The North Island for many years. The Te Reo Māori name for it, Te Ika-a-Māui , also has official recognition but it remains seldom used by most residents. On some 19th-century maps, the North Island is named New Ulster (named after Ulster province in northern Ireland) which was also a province of New Zealand that included the North Island. In 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with
270-590: The 2023 census, 63.1% of North Islanders identified as European ( Pākehā ), 19.8% as Māori , 10.6% as Pacific peoples , 19.3% as Asian , 1.9% as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and 1.1% as other ethnicities. Percentages add to more than 100% as people can identify with more than one ethnicity. Māori form the majority in three districts of the North Island: Kawerau (63.2%), Ōpōtiki (66.2%) and Wairoa (68.5%). Europeans formed
297-519: The South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officially named it North Island, or the aforementioned Te Ika-a-Māui, in October 2013. In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island , with the definite article. It is also normal to use the preposition in rather than on , for example "Hamilton
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#1732776073198324-437: The South Island, this is solely due to the North Island having higher natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) and international migration; since the late 1980s, the internal migration flow has been from the North Island to the South Island. In the year to June 2020, the North Island gained 21,950 people from natural increase and 62,710 people from international migration, while losing 3,570 people from internal migration. At
351-462: The South Island, with the country's largest city, Auckland, and the capital, Wellington, accounting for nearly half of it. There are 30 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more: The sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at NZ$ 282.355 billion in 2021 (78% of New Zealand's national GDP). Nine local government regions cover the North Island and its adjacent islands and territorial waters. Healthcare in
378-669: The Tararua Forest Park climbs from Kaitoke onto and along the Marchant Ridge. This ridge is the part of the Tararuas that is prominently visible from Wellington. The Marchant Track has a side track leading to the Tauherenikau Valley. The end of the Marchant Ridge (after four hours of 'up hill, all the way, both ways') leads to Mount Alpha, and onto The Southern Crossing. The entire track to Alpha skirts
405-838: The area's thermals. The Pakuratahi River flows through the eastern Kaitoke Basin from its source in the Remutaka Ranges . The old route of the Wairarapa Line railway , which closed with the opening of the Rimutaka Tunnel in November 1955, ran from Upper Hutt via Maymorn to Kaitoke and around Goat Rock up the Pakuratahi to the Summit, and from there, because of excessive steepness, the Fell mountain railway system
432-411: The circumnavigation of New Zealand. The maps described the North Island as " Ea Heinom Auwe " and " Aeheinomowe ", which recognises the "Fish of Māui" element. Another Māori name that was given to the North Island, but is now used less commonly, is Aotearoa . Use of Aotearoa to describe the North Island fell out of favour in the early 20th century, and it is now a collective Māori name for New Zealand as
459-451: The conclusion of the Otago gold rush in the 1860s, New Zealand's European population growth has experienced a steady 'Northern drift' as population centres in the North Island have grown faster than those of New Zealand's South Island. This population trend has continued into the twenty-first century, but at a much slower rate. While the North Island's population continues to grow faster than
486-457: The fork of Pakuratahi River and Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River typifies the original vegetation of the area. There is centuries-old rātā , rimu , hinau and kamahi on the upper slopes, red beech on the lower slopes, and black beech on higher spurs and ridge tops with poorer soils. The forests form an ecological corridor between the Remutaka Ranges and Tararua Ranges , and Pakuratahi and Hutt River catchments. The connected bush provides
513-660: The islands and linking the Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea . The North Island has an estimated population of 4,077,800 as of June 2024. The North Island had a population of 3,808,005 at the 2023 New Zealand census , an increase of 213,453 people (5.9%) since the 2018 census , and an increase of 570,957 people (17.6%) since the 2013 census . Of the total population, 733,893 people (19.3%) were aged under 15 years, 743,154 (19.5%) were 15 to 29, 1,721,427 (45.2%) were 30 to 64, and 609,534 (16.0%) were 65 or older. Ever since
540-404: The movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring . 41°5′0.5″S 175°10′3″E / 41.083472°S 175.16750°E / -41.083472; 175.16750 North Island The North Island ( Māori : Te Ika-a-Māui [tɛ i.kɐ ɐ mɑː.ʉ.i] , lit. 'the fish of Māui', officially North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui or historically New Ulster ) is one of
567-409: The park. The park was the filming location for exterior shots of Rivendell for the 2001 movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring . Two people were injured in a plane crash in the regional park in 2016, and one person died in another plane crash in 2020. Toxic algae has remained an ongoing issue in the regional park, with outbreaks in November 2017 and February 2019. In August 2021,
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#1732776073198594-470: The plurality in the Auckland region (49.8%) and are the majority in the remaining 39 districts. The proportion of North Islanders born overseas at the 2018 census were 29.3%. The most common foreign countries of birth were England (15.4% of overseas-born residents), Mainland China (11.3%), India (10.1%), South Africa (5.9%), Australia (5.5%) and Samoa (5.3%). The North Island has a larger population than
621-486: The sea. While he was not looking, his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up. This great fish became the North Island, and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui ("The Fish of Māui"). The mountains and valleys are believed to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish. During Captain James Cook 's voyage between 1769 and 1770 , Tahitian navigator Tupaia accompanied
648-550: The southern North Island of New Zealand . It is located at the northern end of the Hutt Valley , 45 kilometres northeast of Wellington City and six kilometres from the northern end of the Upper Hutt urban area. It also lies at the southern end of the Tararua Ranges . The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "eat worms" for Kaitoke . The "Puffer" tramping track providing access into
675-464: The two main islands of New Zealand , separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait . With an area of 113,729 km (43,911 sq mi), it is the world's 14th-largest island , constituting 43% of New Zealand's land area. It has a population of 4,077,800 (June 2024), which is 76% of New Zealand's residents, making it the most populous island in Polynesia and
702-584: Was purchased after World War II , on 20 November 1951, to form Hutt Water Collection Area. Following the war, the area became a site for picnicking and swimming. In 1976 the Wellington Regional Planning Authority identified the area as a potential regional park because of its native forests and recreational options. The park officially opened in 1983. The Wellington Botanical Society and local Upper Hutt branch of Forest and Bird have been involved in protecting and restoring
729-591: Was used to aid trains on the Rimutaka Incline between Summit and Cross Creek. This railway is now the Remutaka Rail Trail . The Hutt River has its source to the north of Kaitoke, and much of the land in the vicinity is used as a water supply reserve. Filming, rafting, swimming and other human activity all take place downstream of the water intake. The nearby Kaitoke Regional Park was the filming location for exterior shots of Rivendell for
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