Waiheke Island
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 from the central-city terminal in Auckland.
It is the most populated island in the gulf, with permanent residents, and the third most populous island in New Zealand. An additional estimated 3,400 people have second homes or holiday homes on the island. It is more densely populated than the North and South Islands. It is the most accessible island in the gulf, with regular passenger and car-ferry services, a helicopter operator based on the island, and other air links.
In November 2015, Lonely Planet rated Waiheke Island the fifth-best region in the world to visit in 2016.
Geography
Overview
The island is off the coast of the North Island. It is in length from west to east, varies in width from, and has a surface area of. The coastline is, including of beaches. The port of Matiatia at the western end is from Auckland and the eastern end is from Coromandel. The much smaller Tarahiki Island lies to the east.The island is very hilly with few flat areas, the highest point being Maunganui at.
Approximately 17,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, Waiheke Island was landlocked to the North Island, surrounded by a vast coastal plain where the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana exists today. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, after which Waiheke became an island separated from the rest of New Zealand.
Geology
Much of eastern Waiheke island is the remains of a Miocene volcano of the Kiwitahi Group, which erupted approximately 15 million years ago. There are locations of interest to geologists: an argillite outcrop in Ōmiha, and a chert stack at the end of Pohutukawa Point, considered "one of the best exposures of folded chert in Auckland City".Beaches
There are many scenic beaches, including:- Oneroa Beach – The main beach, on the northern side of the town of Oneroa. It has free BBQ facilities, public toilets and a swing for children.
- Little Oneroa Beach – A small secluded beach at the east end of Oneroa Beach, separated by a protruding cliff wall. It has free BBQ facilities, public toilets and a children's playground.
- Palm Beach – Similar in shape to Oneroa Beach, it gets its name from the mature phoenix palms at the east end, where a public toilet and free BBQ facilities are also located. There is a children's playground in the middle section of the beach which also has a free BBQ area, public toilets and an outdoor public shower.
- Little Palm Beach – A small clothes-optional beach at the west end of Palm Beach. New Zealand has no official nude beaches, as public nudity is legal on any beach where it is "known to occur".
- Blackpool Beach – The south-facing counterpart of Oneroa Beach, lining Blackpool and popular for kayaking and windsurfing.
- Surfdale Beach – A zoned-in beach on the southern side of Surfdale, separated from Blackpool Beach by a small protruding peninsula, which has a scenic unsealed route called The Esplanade linking the beaches. Popular for kitesurfing. Also has a free BBQ area and children's playground.
- Onetangi Beach – A long, north-facing beach lining Onetangi, a Māori name meaning "weeping sands". It was the site of a battle between Ngapuhi from Te Tai Tokerau and Ngati Paoa during which many Ngati Paoa villagers were slaughtered on the beach.
- For many years it has been the site of the Onetangi Beach Horse Races. Its western end, often inaccessible at high tide, is clothes-optional. It has sandcastle-building contests annually; participants have a few hours to build their creations in soft sand that is free of shells and suitable for digging. Free BBQ and public facilities.
- Cactus Bay – Considered by many Waihekeans as the most perfect beach and, with nearby Garden Cove, a romantic place for picnicking. The beach is accessible only by boat or kayak, as its land access was blocked off by a private landowner.
- Shelly Beach – A small and well sheltered shell and stone beach located between Oneroa and Ostend. It has free BBQ facilities, a public toilet and a diving platform located just off shore. It is a popular choice with families as at high tide, it is often calm and flat – ideal for children.
Climate
Rainfall is typically plentiful, though dry spells may occur during the summer months which can be problematic for many of the island residents, the vast majority of whom rely on rainwater harvesting from residential roofs for drinking and household use. During such dry periods, the island's water-delivery trucks can be seen replenishing residential water tanks that have run dry.
It is often anecdotally said by locals that Waiheke has a different micro-climate from the Auckland isthmus. Though little data supports this, the following data from a NIWA report suggests Waiheke receives over 100 hours more sunshine a year than other parts of Auckland.
| Annual mean temperature | Annual precipitation | Annual sunshine hours |
| 15.2c | 1461mm | 2100 |
Natural history
Avifauna
Native birds found on Waiheke include kererū, kokoeā, kōtare, mātātā, pīhoihoi, pīpīwharauroa, pīwakawaka, pūkeko, tauhou, tūī, and weka. Exotics include sparrows, finches, yellowhammers, blackbirds, starlings, myna, magpies, grey warblers, pheasants, and skylarks. Less common birds include peacocks, New Zealand red-crowned parakeet, and kaka. There have been occasional sightings of korimako, but these do not seem to have established a viable population on Waiheke yet. There have been two attempts to release korimako on Waiheke: the first was by Mike Lee in 1990–1991, the next involved the Auckland Regional Council, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, and the Department of Conservation in 2010. Both were unsuccessful.Birds living around shorelines, beaches and wetlands include southern black-backed gulls, red-billed gulls, Australasian gannets, white-fronted terns, grey-faced petrels, bar-tailed godwits, spotted shags, pied stilts, variable oystercatchers, New Zealand dotterels, brown teal, banded rails, Paradise ducks, and little penguins
New Zealand's three native birds of prey all occur on Waiheke: the kārearea, the kahu, and the ruru.
Kiwi introduction
Due to combined efforts of the organisation Save the Kiwi, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Te Korowai o Waiheke, Pōnui Island landowners, and the Department of Conservation, ten kiwi were transferred from neighbouring Pōnui Island to the Te Matuku Peninsula at the eastern end of Waiheke Island in mid-2025. The kiwi were welcomed to Waiheke at Piritahi Marae with a pōwhiri. In October 2025, the first kiwi chick from these ten hatched on Waiheke and was captured on video. A transmitter linked to a male adult kiwi had shown he had been incubating.History
The islands of the Hauraki Gulf have been settled since the archaic period of Māori history, and were visited by many of the migratory canoes such as Aotea, Tākitimu, and Mātaatua. Only the largest islands such as Aotea / Great Barrier Island and Waiheke sustained permanent settlements. The forests on the western side of Waiheke Island were likely heavily damaged in the 14th century eruptions of Rangitoto Island. During 18th and early 19th centuries, the eastern side of Waiheke was forested by ancient kauri trees, while kānuka and mānuka bushes dominated the vegetation of the western side, suggesting relatively recent regeneration. The original Māori name for Waiheke was apparently Te Motu-arai-roa, 'the long sheltering island', but at the time the first European visitors arrived it was known as Motu-Wai-Heke, 'island of trickling waters' — rendered as Motu Wy Hake by James Downie, master of the store ship HMS Coromandel, in his 1820 chart of the Tamaki Strait and the Coromandel coast.Waiheke Island has historically been settled by various tribes, especially the Marutūāhu collective tribes of Ngāti Maru and Ngāti Pāoa. Waiheke Island was the site of many battles between Ngāti Pāoa and Ngāpuhi from the Bay of Islands, up until the late 18th century. In the 1790s, sealing and whaling ships underwent repairs primarily on Waiheke Island.
The island was briefly depopulated during the Musket Wars, when Ngāti Pāoa and other Tāmaki Māori sought refuge in areas such as the Waikato. When Ngāti Pāoa returned to Tāmaki Makaurau, they primarily settled on Waiheke. After the wars, the Ngāti Pāoa community of Waiheke were mostly based at Pūtiki Bay.
In 1836, Thomas Maxwell established a shipyard at Man o'War Bay in eastern Waiheke, using local timber to build and repair ships. Ngāti Pāoa quickly engaged with the emerging industries, helping to supply timber and food for European ships. Ngāti Pāoa established wheat and vegetable plantations on the eastern bays of the island. The shipbuilding industry remained on the island until the 1860s, after which the eastern farming plantations quickly became disused. Ngāti Pāoa at Te Huruhi continued to supply produce to Auckland until the early 20th century. Much of the firewood and building timber supplied to the growing city of Auckland was supplied by Waiheke Island forests, while shingle and sand from Owhanake and Hooks Bay was used for concrete manufacturing, up until the 1920s. The island was also home to manganese mines between 1872 and 1900.
Large private land purchases occurred on Waiheke between 1836 and 1840s, followed by large crown land purchases in the 1850s. By the 1850s, the only Ngāti Pāoa land that remained on the island was a 2,100 acre section at Te Huruhi. Through a process of individualisation of land titled, the Māori Land Court split the Te Huruhi block between 65 individuals, and by 1914 most of the block had been sold to private interests. By the end of the 19th century, the island was increasingly deforested, and land was increasingly used for cattle pastures.
In the late 1800s or early 1900s the island was owned by a man named Frank Bell. During Bell's ownership Waiheke was known as Bell's Island.
When shipping companies began offering occasional trips to the island in the 1880s, Waiheke emerged as a seaside resort. Day trips to Waiheke and Motutapu by steamers became a common recreational excursion, and boarding houses began to flourish at the south-eastern bays of the island. In 1915, Aucklanders were offered the chance to buy affordable land at Ostend, the first subdivision of Waiheke. The naming of these new subdivisions reveal the central role of beach life to the identity of the island. The winner of a competition naming the Surfdale subdivision was awarded a parcel of land near the beach. A section of land could be bought for a small deposit on top of a cost of 8 pence a day and was promoted as a sound investment, however, these land offers were not open to Māori.
Ostend and Surfdale were joined by additional subdivisions at Palm Beach, Rocky Bay and Oneroa in the 1920s. A level of self-sufficiency was required for life on the island as electricity only arrived in 1953 after a submarine power cable was laid from Maraetai Point to Rocky Bay.
It took another year for the lights to go on in Onetangi. The community celebrated with a parade of floats and a party on 3 July 1954. Ostend came next, and then Palm Beach, Surfdale, Blackpool and Oneroa. Work was not complete on the more settled end of the island until October 1957. The rugged, less populated eastern end of the island took longer.
During World War II, three gun emplacements were built at Stony Batter on the eastern edge to protect Allied shipping in Waitematā Harbour, in the fear that Japanese ships might reach New Zealand. This mirrored developments at North Head and Rangitoto Island. The guns were never fired in anger. The empty emplacements can be visited seven days a week. The extensive tunnels below them have also opened as a tourist attraction.
In 1999 Waiheke's community board voted Waiheke as a "genetic engineering free zone", but this is a matter of principle rather than fact, as only national government controls exist over genetically engineered foods and grains.