The Manawatu Plains is an area of low-lying land in New Zealand, located on the floodplains of the
Manawatu and
Rangitikei River Rangitikei may refer to the following in New Zealand:
* Rangitikei River, one of country's longest rivers
* Rangitikei District, a district council in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region
* Rangitīkei (New Zealand electorate), a current general electorate ...
s. It is some of the most fertile lands in the southwestern
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
.
Stretching from the northern
Horowhenua around
Levin in the south to
Marton in the north, the triangular area of land extends inland from the
South Taranaki Bight to almost as far as
Ashhurst at the mouth of the
Manawatu Gorge. It covers an area of around .
In the south, around
Lake Horowhenua
Lake Horowhenua is in the Horowhenua District, an area of the southern Manawatū-Whanganui region in New Zealand's North Island. It covers an area of .
The lake, also known as ''Punahau'', is an aeolian lake that lies on a sandy plain west of L ...
, the plains were once an extensive wetland, which has been largely drained and turned into profitable
dairy farming land. There are conservation moves in progress to restore some of these wetlands to their former state.
Further north, the plains provide the basis for the economy which drives the city of
Palmerston North and the towns of
Foxton,
Feilding, and
Bulls
Bulls may refer to:
*The plural of bull, an adult male bovine
*Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District
Sports
*Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding
*Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...
, all of which rely on the agricultural dollar to an extent.
As
floodplains, the land is not always entirely dry. Although the area receives slightly below the national average rainfall, floods can occur, as happened around the township of
Tangimoana in early 2004.
{{coord, -40.38, 175.41, region:NZ_type:landmark, display=title
Landforms of Manawatū-Whanganui
Plains of New Zealand
Floodplains of Oceania
Wetlands of New Zealand