Sunset, Makara Beach

“Makara Beach is located on Wellington’s wild, south west coast exposed and frequently pounded by the prevailing gales. The little village near the shoreline is robust against the elements to house the local inhabitants, many of whom enjoy the close proximity to boating, fishing and diving.

Its closeness to Wellington and nearby Karori and Johnsonville via the Ohariu Valley means that it’s a favourite for those who don’t mind roughing it, from comfortable urban life to  ‘rugged’ nature. There’s great walking to be done over the hills or along the coastline, both north and south from Makara Beach,that can take you for miles, if you’re feeling that way inclined.

There are many fine days in summer. Take a picnic or visit the Cafe Makara for a coffee and a snack. The Makara Beach community began in 1840 but there were no roads until South Makara was begun in 1859. Up until this time, the only way in and out of Makara was by sea or by using tracks made by Māori.

In the 1860s alluvial gold was discovered, which led thousands of men to the district. The increase in population helped to see an increase in services so that by the turn of the century farms had been established to produce butter and milk and by 1938 there were about 20 dairy farms in the district.”

You will find this image on the front page of the website in my Featured Content Gallery. Permission is granted to use this file under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.