Aotea Lagoon is an artificial lagoon

Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

 surrounded by a 7 ha public park
in the Papakowhai

Papakowhai

Papakowhai is a suburb of Porirua City approximately 22 km north of Wellington in New Zealand.The name "Papakowhai" is of Māori origin, meaning "land covered by kowhai trees". As well as being the name of the suburb it is the name of the main road connecting the suburb to the south...

 suburb of Porirua

Porirua

Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds...

, North Island, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

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Aotea and two nearby lagoons were created as transport links were realigned
from the natural coastline to land reclaimed from Porirua Harbour

Porirua Harbour

Porirua Harbour is a natural inlet in the south-western coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The city of Porirua, one of the four cities in the Wellington conurbation, surrounds it. The city centre is to the south of the harbour....

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Hydrology

The lagoon is 5 ha of seawater

Seawater

Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...

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connected to Porirua Harbour by a culvert

Culvert

A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...

under the model windmill

Windmill

A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

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Three stormwater drains

Storm drain

A storm drain, storm sewer , stormwater drain or drainage well system or simply a drain or drain system is designed to drain excess rain and ground water from paved streets, parking lots, sidewalks, and roofs. Storm drains vary in design from small residential dry wells to large municipal systems...

 empty into the lagoon,
two in the east bank, the third in the south-east under the jetty

Jetty

A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...

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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

State Highway 1 (New Zealand)

State Highway 1 is the longest and most significant road in the New Zealand roading network, running the length of both main islands. It appears on road maps as SH 1 and on road signs as a white number 1 on a red shield, but it has the official designations SH 1N in the North Island, SH 1S in the...

used to run round three bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

s between Porirua and Paremata

Paremata

Paremata is a suburb of Porirua, on the Tasman Sea coast to the north of Wellington, New Zealand.-Early history:The modern suburb, just south of Plimmerton, derives its name from the "Parramatta Barracks", erected on the north shore of Porirua Harbour in about 1846 when the infant government was...

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In 1961 the railway was realigned to a causeway

Causeway

In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...

 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 lagoons were partly filled in, with material from the
Ministry of Works and Development's

New Zealand Ministry of Works

The New Zealand Ministry of Works, formerly the Department of Public Works and sometimes referred to as the Public Works Department or PWD, was founded in 1876 and disestablished and privatised in 1988...

 local
earthworks

Earthworks (engineering)

Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving or processing of quantities of soil or unformed rock.- Civil engineering use :Typical earthworks include roads, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms...

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then the highway was realigned inland of the railway.

The Ministry, Porirua City Council, Project Employment Programme

Job creation program

Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...

 and local service club

Service club

A service club or service organization is a voluntary non-profit organization where members meet regularly to perform charitable works either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other organizations. A service club is defined first by its service mission...

s
turned the area around the middle lagoon into a public park,
that opened as Aotea Lagoon in 1980.
Originally leased from the Crown

The Crown

The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...

, the park was taken over by the City Council in 1994.

Facilities

The park's centrepiece is a path around the lagoon,
the easiest of Porirua's top 12 walkways.

The Waitangirua

Waitangirua

Waitangirua is a suburb of Porirua City approximately 22km north of Wellington in New Zealand.Waitangirua was established during the 1960s, almost exclusively as a Government housing development for New Zealand's burgeoning working class immigrant population...

 Lions built a ¼ scale ridable miniature railway

Ridable miniature railway

A ridable miniature railway is a ground-level, large scale model railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are models of full-sized railway locomotives .-Overview:Typically they have a rail track gauge between and , though both larger and...

with an 833 m 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 lawn

Lawn

A lawn is an area of aesthetic and recreational land planted with grasses or other durable plants, which usually are maintained at a low and consistent height. Low ornamental meadows in natural landscaping styles are a contemporary option of a lawn...

s on three sides, some with barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

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Other facilities from the north-east are adventure and toddlers' playground

Playground

A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...

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a duck pond

Duck pond

A duck pond is a pond for ducks and other water fowl. Duck ponds provide habitats for water fowl and other birds, who use the water to bathe in and drink....

 crossed by boardwalk

Boardwalk

A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....

, an island reached by bridge and a Pétanque

Pétanque

Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or jack. It is also sometimes called a bouchon or le petit...

 pitch.
In the south-west corner are a rose garden

Rose garden

A Rose garden or Rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped by individual variety, colour or class in rose beds.-Origins of the rose...

, fernery

Fernery

A fernery is a specialized garden for the cultivation and display of ferns.In many countries, ferneries are indoors or at least sheltered or kept in a shadehouse to provide a moist environment, filtered light and protection from frost and other extremes, some ferns native to arid regions require...

and smaller duck pond.

Most people visit Aotea Lagoon to walk for exercise or relaxation while
children enjoy the playgrounds, feeding the ducks, riding bicycles and the train.