Kaipara Harbour

The Kaipara harbour is one of the largest harbours in the world. There were many Maori settlements around the Kaipara since it provided plentiful food such as shellfish on the coast and fish in the harbour.

It was a major shipping route in the nineteenth century with Dargaville at its northern end providing a port for the export of Kauri timber from the forests to its north. Like all harbours on the west coast of New Zealand it has a bar of shifting sands which were and are the site of many shipwrecks. Being partly tidal it has many mangroves around the tidal edges. It can be viewed from numerous places along the main road from where you can see not only the harbour but the sandhills on the sea side and the ocean beyond.

Image Credits: Koenraad Kuiper