Aotea Lagoon is an artificial

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

surrounded by a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

in the Papakowhai suburb of Porirua, North Island,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Aotea and two nearby lagoons were created when major arterial transport links were realigned from the natural coastline to land reclaimed from

Porirua Harbour Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour, commonly known as Porirua Harbour, is a natural inlet in the south-western coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The harbour is within the main urban area of the Wellington Region, and is surrounded by the city of ...

Hydrology

The lagoon is of

seawater Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appr ...

, connected to Porirua Harbour by a culvert under the model

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

. Stormwater drains empty into the lagoon, two in the east bank and a third in the south-east. The lagoon's "water body receives limited flushing and aeration" and "little can be done to improve water quality without extensive engineering works." Poor water quality means swimming is prohibited.

History

The North Island Main Trunk railway and State Highway 1 used to run round three bays between Porirua and

Paremata Paremata is a suburb of Porirua, on the Tasman Sea coast to the north of Wellington, New Zealand. History Early history The modern suburb, just south of Plimmerton, derives its name from the "Paremata Barracks", erected on the north shore of P ...

. In the early 1960s, the railway was realigned to a causeway built between promontories at the mouth of Porirua Stream, Gear Homestead, present-day Thurso Grove and Brora Crescent. Cut off from the sea, the bays became lagoons. To realign the highway, inland of the railway, the lagoons were partly filled in with material from the Ministry of Works and Development's nearby earthworks. The Ministry, Porirua City Council, Project Employment Programme and local service clubs turned the area around the middle lagoon into a public aquatic park that opened as Aotea Lagoon in 1980. Originally leased from

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

, the park was taken over by the City Council in 1994. In 2021 the highway along the western edge of all three lagoons became State Highway 59.

Facilities

The park's centrepiece is a path around the lagoon. The

Waitangirua Waitangirua is a suburb of Porirua City approximately 22km north of Wellington in New Zealand. Waitangirua was established during the 1960s, almost exclusively as a Government housing development for New Zealand's burgeoning working class immig ...

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

built a ¼ scale

ridable miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol ...

with an loop track including two bridges and a tunnel. The train runs Sunday afternoon, weather and maintenance permitting, from Pipitea Station south-west of the lagoon. The park has

lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...

s north, east and south-west of the lagoon some with barbecues. Other facilities, from the north to south-west, are Butterfly Walkway Porirua, adventure and toddlers' playgrounds,

splash pad A splash pad or spray pool is a recreation area, often in a public park, for water play that has little or no standing water. This is said to eliminate the need for lifeguards or other supervision, as there is little risk of drowning. Typical ...

, island reached by bridge,

Pétanque Pétanque (, ; oc, petanca, , also or ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports, along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling. In all of these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls ...

terrain and a

rose garden A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Most often it is a section of a larger garden. Designs vary tremendously and roses m ...

. Most people visit Aotea Lagoon for exercise or relaxation while children enjoy the playgrounds, feeding the ducks, riding bicycles and the train.

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{cite report , first = Christine , last=Jacobson, author-link = , authors = , year = 2009 , title = Aotea Lagoon Visitor Monitoring 2009 , url = , publisher = Porirua City Council , format = , edition = , location = , chapter = , section = , page = , pages = , docket = , access-date = , quote = Lagoons of New Zealand Porirua Landforms of the Wellington Region Parks in the Wellington Region