Aotea Lagoon


Aotea Lagoon is an artificial lagoon surrounded by a public park
in the Papakowhai suburb of Porirua, North Island, New Zealand.
Aotea and two nearby lagoons were created when major arterial transport links were realigned
from the natural coastline to land reclaimed from Porirua Harbour.

Hydrology

The lagoon is of seawater,
connected to Porirua Harbour by a culvert
under the model windmill.
Three stormwater drains empty into the lagoon,
two in the east bank, the third in the south-east under the jetty.
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. In 1960, the railway was realigned to a causeway built between headlands at the mouth of Porirua Stream, Gear Homestead, present-day Thurso Grove and Forth Place. Cut off from the sea, the bays became lagoons. The north and south lagoons were largely filled in, and the largest or middle lagoon partly filled in, with material from the Ministry of Works and Development's
earthworks when the highway was realigned to its present position to the east of or inland of the railway in the late 1960s.
The Ministry, Porirua City Council, Project Employment Programme and local service clubs turned the area around the middle lagoon into a public park, that opened as Aotea Lagoon in 1980. Originally leased from the Crown, the park was taken over by the City Council in 1994.

Facilities

The park's centrepiece is a path around the lagoon.
The Waitangirua Lions built a ¼ scale ridable miniature railway with an loop track including two bridges and a tunnel.
The train runs Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, from Pipitea Station south-west of the lagoon.
The park has lawns on three sides, some with barbecues.
Other facilities from the north to south-east are adventure and toddlers' playgrounds, duck pond crossed by boardwalk, splash pad, island reached by bridge and Pétanque terrain. In the south-west corner another duck pond and rose garden.
Most people visit Aotea Lagoon for exercise or relaxation while children enjoy the playgrounds, feeding the ducks, riding bicycles and the train.