Whitford, New Zealand

Ayrlies Garden is a country garden near Whitford, southeast of Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand's best-known gardens, and has been described as the "quintessential New Zealand garden". The New Zealand Gardens Trust has rated it a six star garden, its highest rating.The garden now covers some 12 acres (49,000 m2) of rolling terrain, with large lawns, ponds and waterways, and heavily planted informal borders which make strong use of colour, including a "lurid border" of 'hot' colours. Some areas feature roses, clematis and perennials; others contain lush, sub-tropical plants, such as Petrea, Alocasia, bromeliads, vireya rhododendrons and Ficus dammaropsis. It also includes many large trees - mostly liquidambar, swamp cypress and pin oak - which have grown rapidly in the warm and wet climate, with rare frosts and over 50 inches (1.3 m) of rain a year. It contains several structures around the main house, including a small 'sitooterie' - a low gazebo, to sit out in and admire the view. The large site is unified by a consistent planting and use of materials. The garden was created by Beverly McConnell and her late husband Malcolm, co-founder of New Zealand engineering and construction company McConnell Dowell. It is named after Malcolm McConnell's grandfather's farm in Scotland. The garden began in 1964, when the McConnells moved to the site with their young family, starting with a 3-acre (12,000 m2) coastal site which was previously bare paddock with a heavy clay soil, and expanding to 12 acres (49,000 m2) in 1978, including the addition of three large ponds. From 2000, 35 acres (140,000 m2) of swamp flats below the homestead were transformed into a wetland area with an 8-acre (32,000 m2) lake, linking the garden to the Hauraki Gulf nearby.The garden is open to the public on weekdays, for a fee.

Tuscany Estates is a southeastern suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located slightly southeast of the suburb Flat Bush. Tuscany Heights Reserve is located in Tuscany Estate.

Mangemangeroa Creek is a tidal estuary and stream in the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. The creek forms a border between metropolitan East Auckland and the rural countryside around Whitford.

Mission Heights is an eastern suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, comprising Mission Heights North and Mission Heights South. It is located in the wider suburb of Flat Bush.

Shelly Park is a South eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. The suburb is in the Howick ward, one of thirteen electoral divisions of the Auckland Council. It is named after the beach of the same name. Shelly Park Cruising Club (SPCC) is a yacht club at this beach which also offers dry docking facilities and the beach is an access point to the estuary where boats are moored. The beach is also one end of a nature walkway - Mangemangeroa Reserve - which runs from there to Somerville Road.

Puke-i-Āki-Rangi, also known as Point View, is a hill in East Tāmaki Heights, New Zealand.

Somerville Intermediate School is a decile 10 intermediate school mainly serving Howick, which is a suburb of Manukau City, New Zealand.

Shamrock Park is an eastern suburb of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. The area is bounded on the northwest by Chapel Road and Kilkenny Drive, on the northeast by Whitford Road, and on the east by Mangemangeroa Creek. Shamrock Park has many of its streets named after Irish Towns. The earliest houses date from the 1890s, but most of the houses were built in the 1990s. In 1998, the major streets were defined, but the land to the south was rural.

Somerville is an eastern suburb of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. Most of the houses were built in the 1990s. Before 1990, the area was rural.A large area of land was bought by Archibald Somerville in 1863, and his descendents farmed it until subdivision in 1988. Development of residential housing was well under way in 1996.

East Tāmaki Heights is an eastern suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. The earliest houses date from the 1880s, but most of the houses were built in the 2000s. Between 1998 and 2009, the major streets were defined.

Howick College is a state co-educational secondary school located in the eastern Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Cockle Bay. Serving Years 9 to 13, the school has a roll of 2114 students as of February 2023.

Dannemora is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the east of the city, close to Pakuranga and Botany Downs, and in the Howick ward and local board area of Auckland Council.