The Northland Region is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout the year. The main population centre is the city of Whangārei, and the largest town is Kerikeri. At the 2018 New Zealand census, Northland recorded a population growth spurt of 18.1% since the previous 2013 census, placing it as the fastest growing region in New Zealand, ahead of other strong growth regions such as the Bay of Plenty Region and Waikato.
Waiheke Island is the second-largest island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. Its ferry terminal in Matiatia Bay at the western end is 21.5 km (13.4 mi) from the central-city terminal in Auckland.
Auckland is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland metropolitan area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing 33 percent of the nation's residents, it has by far the largest population and economy of any region of New Zealand, but the second-smallest land area.
The Australasian gannet, also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailing edge of the wing. The central tail feathers are also black. The head is tinged buff-yellow, with a pearly grey bill edged in dark grey or black, and blue-rimmed eyes. Young birds have mottled plumage in their first year, dark above and light below. The head is an intermediate mottled grey, with a dark bill. The birds gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.
The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some 27,720 hectares of public and private land. The area, traditionally known to Māori as Te Wao Nui o Tiriwa, is of local, regional, and national significance. The Waitākere Ranges includes a chain of hills in the Auckland Region, generally running approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) from north to south, 25 km west of central Auckland. The ranges are part of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park.
The Hunua Ranges is a mountain range and regional park to the southeast of Auckland city, in the Auckland and Waikato regions of New Zealand's North Island. The ranges cover some 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi) and rise to 688 metres (2255 ft) at Kohukohunui.
Muriwai, also called Muriwai Beach, is a coastal community on the west coast of the Auckland Region in the North Island of New Zealand. The black-sand surf beach and surrounding area is a popular recreational area for Aucklanders. The Muriwai Regional Park includes a nesting site for a large colony of gannets.
The Hibiscus Coast is a populated area on a stretch of the Hauraki Gulf coast in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It has a population of 64,660, making it the 10th most populous urban area in New Zealand, and the second most populous in the Auckland Region, behind Auckland itself. As an urban area delineated by Statistics New Zealand, the Hibiscus Coast consists of Hatfields Beach, Orewa, Silverdale and Whangaparāoa Peninsula. The Auckland Council's Hibiscus Coast subdivision of the Hibiscus and Bays includes the neighbouring communities of Waiwera and Stillwater, and Milldale in Rodney, is also described as a part of the Hibiscus Coast.
Te Henga, or Bethells Beach, is a coastal community in West Auckland, New Zealand. The Māori name for the area, "Te Henga", is in reference to the long foredunes which run along the beach and look like the Henga or gunwale of an upturned waka hull. This name originally applied to a wide area of the lower Waitakere River valley, but during the early 1900s the area became popular with visiting European immigrants who began to refer to the area as "Bethells Beach" after the Bethell Family who live there and still own much of the area. In 1976 the New Zealand Geographic Board officially named the area "Te Henga ".
Duder Regional Park is a regional park situated on the coast to the east of Auckland, New Zealand, on the Whakakaiwhara Peninsula.
Shakespear Regional Park is a nature park in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is located at the tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, and is named after the Shakespear family which bought the land in the 1880s from local Maori.
Wenderholm Regional Park is a regional park north of Auckland in New Zealand's North Island. It is situated between the estuaries of the Puhoi River and the Waiwera River, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island and features a homestead known as Couldrey House, and a carved pouwhenua.
Karioi or Mount Karioi is a 2.4 million year old extinct stratovolcano 8 km (5.0 mi) SW of Raglan in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It was the earliest of the line of 6 calcalkalic volcanoes, the largest of which is Mount Pirongia. Karioi forms a background to many parts of Raglan.
Kakepuku is a volcanic cone which rises from the plain between the Waipā and Puniu rivers, about 3 km (2 mi) NW of Te Kawa and 8 km (5 mi) SW of Te Awamutu in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island.
Te Korowai-o-Te-Tonga Peninsula, also known as South Head and by its former name of the South Kaipara Peninsula, is a long peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand, extending north along the western edge of the Kaipara Harbour for some 35 kilometres (22 mi) from near Helensville to the harbour's mouth. The peninsula was officially renamed in 2013 as part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement. The name, which is Māori for "The cloak of the south", reflects the peninsula's geographical role in guarding the southern half of the Kaipara Harbour from the Tasman Sea and prevailing westerly winds. The mouth of the Kaipara Harbour separates the peninsula from the larger Pouto Peninsula to the north.
Waiau Glacier Coast Marine Reserve is a marine reserve of the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. It covers an area of 4,641 hectares or 46 km2, from 11 km south from Kohuamarua Bluff near Ōkārito, to Omoeroa Bluff, and about 4 km out to sea.
Ambury Regional Park is a regional park situated on the coast of Manukau Harbour, in Auckland in New Zealand's North Island. It is situated in the suburb of Māngere Bridge and in the local board area of Māngere-Ōtāhuhu, to the west of Māngere Mountain.
Waimakariri River Regional Park is a regional park in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand's South Island. It covers 15,000 hectares on the banks of the Waimakariri River, and is operated by Environment Canterbury.
West Auckland is one of the major geographical areas of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Much of the area is dominated by the Waitākere Ranges, the eastern slopes of the Miocene era Waitākere volcano which was upraised from the ocean floor, and now one of the largest regional parks in New Zealand. The metropolitan area of West Auckland developed between the Waitākere Ranges to the west and the upper reaches of the Waitematā Harbour to the east. It covers areas such as Glen Eden, Henderson, Massey and New Lynn.
The korowai gecko, also known as the Muriwai gecko, is a gecko found on the west coast of the Auckland Region of New Zealand. First discovered on Oaia Island in 1954, the species was recognised as distinct from Woodworthia maculata in 2016, and was formally described in 2023.
Wild coast and gannet colony - Motutara Island
A closer look at the colony
Gannets at Muriwai; adults and one young bird
Adult and child gannet at Muriwai
