Karaka Bays is a suburb of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

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 coun ...

. It lies on the northeast coast of the

Miramar Peninsula The large Miramar Peninsula ( mi, Te Motu Kairangi) is on the southeastern side of the city of Wellington, New Zealand, at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, in Wellington's eastern suburbs. According to Māori legend, it was formed when the ...

, 6 km east-south-east of the city centre, and has an expansive view of Wellington Harbour. It takes its name from a New Zealand native tree, the '' karaka'' or New Zealand laurel. The suburb consists of residential properties close to the shores of two bays, Scorching Bay in the north and Karaka Bay in the south. Nearby suburbs are Miramar and Maupuia. Prominent features of Karaka Bays include the Scorching Bay Domain, a recreational park at the northern end of the suburb. The

Cook Strait ferry Interislander is a road and rail ferry service across New Zealand's Cook Strait, between Wellington in the North Island and Picton in the South Island. It is owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail. Three roll-on roll-off (R ...

passes the coast of Karaka Bay on its way between Picton and

. The area was historically connected with

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

- Coombe Rocks, a series of rocky islets off the coast, were used as a watching-place for

cetacean Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel th ...

s.''Wise's New Zealand guide'' (1969) Dunedin: H. Wise & Co. p. 115 In recent years marine mammals have returned to the area, with

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

s commonly sighted along the coast and

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

occasionally visible offshore.

Demographics

Karaka Bay-Worser Bay statistical area, which includes

Worser Bay Worser Bay in Wellington, New Zealand is along the beach from Seatoun and over the hill from Miramar on the Miramar Peninsula. It has a calm sandy beach with a road running along the base of the Seatoun Heights hill. Houses run all along the h ...

, covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Karaka Bay-Worser Bay had a population of 1,503 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

, an increase of 60 people (4.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 84 people (5.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 594 households. There were 747 males and 756 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.99 males per female. The median age was 44.8 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 273 people (18.2%) aged under 15 years, 207 (13.8%) aged 15 to 29, 777 (51.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 243 (16.2%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 91.0% European/Pākehā, 6.0% Māori, 2.0% Pacific peoples, 7.2% Asian, and 2.6% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 31.3%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 59.7% had no religion, 30.3% were Christian, 1.2% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 1.2% were Buddhist and 2.0% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 645 (52.4%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 78 (6.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $60,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 669 (54.4%) people were employed full-time, 183 (14.9%) were part-time, and 45 (3.7%) were unemployed.

References

{{coord, 41, 18, 12, S, 174, 49, 52, E, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Suburbs of Wellington City Populated places around the Wellington Harbour