Whangarei District Council

Whangarei is a thriving, modern and vibrant city set within idyllic natural surroundings, nestling into the hills that overlook the picturesque harbour. The region features fertile farmland, orchards, forests and spectacular coastline with some of the country's finest beaches. The city's full name is ‘Whangarei Terenga Paraoa' which can be literally translated as the ‘swimming place of the whales'. This translates further to mean ‘the meeting place of the chiefs', since the whale-bone mere was a weapon of chiefly status, and refers to the inter-tribal wars of the 1800s when Whangarei was a meeting place for all the great Maori chiefs of the district.