Akatarawa River

Birchville is a suburb of Upper Hutt, New Zealand in the North Island. Its centre lies at the entrance to the Akatarawa Valley, in the north of the city, near confluence of the Akatarawa River with the Hutt River. It is about a 5 km (10-minute) drive north from the centre of Upper Hutt. The Birchville community is spread out along both banks of the Hutt River in a long fairly narrow valley.

Parkdale is a mainly residential subdivision in the suburb of Birchville in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. It is located north of the Upper Hutt city centre on the northern side of Emerald Hill nestled between Birchville, Te Mārua, Timberlea and Brown Owl. Although the developers originally pitched this housing development as a new suburb, this has not been accepted by the Upper Hutt City Council, which considers the subdivision to be part of the suburb of Birchville. Also, from as early as 1982, the New Zealand Geographic Board also clarified that Birchville, rather than Parkdale was the official locality name. Local residents rarely refer to it as a suburb of its own. The major through street is Gemstone Drive, which runs roughly west–east from Akatarawa Road to the end of the subdivision at Topaz Street, which then connects with State Highway 2. Most other streets in the subdivision are cul-de-sacs and are named, alphabetically from Akatarawa Road, after gemstones (e.g. Amber Grove, Moonstone Grove). This subdivision has a reputation for being a down-market suburb, because a number of own-your-own or cross-leased units erected early in the development (although this trend did not continue as the development progressed). There is a Jehovah's Witnesses church at the eastern end of the subdivision.

Birchville Dam is believed to be the second unreinforced concrete arch dam built for water supply in New Zealand. It was built in 1930 for the Upper Hutt Borough Council to provide increased water capacity for the borough and replaced a water supply weir built in 1913–1914 at the same location on Clarke's Creek, near Birchville. Decommissioned in 1958, when Upper Hutt joined the Wellington regional water scheme, this dam is now an historic attraction on the Cannon Point Walkway. This Dam does not appear in the New Zealand Dam Inventory (1994).

Emerald Hill is a hill (and unofficial suburb or locality name) in the suburb of Birchville, Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The name Emerald Hill has been applied by developers Golden Homes Wellington Ltd to a housing development they are constructing on the north-eastern slopes of Emerald Hill. This development consists of around 4 or 5 streets off the end of Gemstone Drive.The Metlink bus route 110 operates between Petone and the intersection of Emerald Hill Road with Gemstone Drive half-hourly during the day.

Brown Owl is a suburb of Upper Hutt, located 3–4km from the city centre. It developed slowly from the 1960s The suburb is located on the eastern side of the Hutt River at the base of the Eastern Hutt Valley Hills and Emerald Hill, with SH2 running right through it. It is bordered by Timberlea to the east (at the intersection of SH2 and Norana Road in the northeast), Maoribank to the south of SH2 at Moeraki Road, and Birchville just past the northern side of Harcourt Park on Akatarawa Road. Tōtara Park can be accessed by foot by crossing the Harcourt Park Bridge at the end of Norbert Street. Brown Owl is serviced by a small shopping centre on Akatarawa Road and a Caltex service station on SH2 opposite Moeraki Road.

Timberlea is a suburb of Upper Hutt, located 3.5-6.5 km northeast from the city centre. It had a population of 1612 at the 2013 Census.The suburb is located on a plateau of the Eastern Hutt Valley Hills, with most of the suburb being 115-135 metres above sea level. It can be accessed from SH2 by exiting at Norana Road. It is bordered by Maoribank at the lower, south-western end of Norana Road and Brown Owl by SH2 to the north. While there are no shops in Timberlea, residents have access to the Caltex service station and small shopping centre in neighbouring Brown Owl. The main shops in Upper Hutt's city centre are only 3.5-6.5 km away, depending on where in Timberlea you are travelling from.

Tōtara Park is a suburb of Upper Hutt, New Zealand, located 2 km northeast of the city centre. It is accessed via the Tōtara Park Bridge which crosses the Hutt River, connecting it to State Highway 2 and the main Upper Hutt urban area. It was popular in the 1970s and 1980s for families moving into the Upper Hutt area. Most of the streets in Tōtara Park are named after states, towns and cities of the United States, with the main road running through the suburb being California Drive. Tōtara Park is built on alluvial gravel. The Wellington Fault runs through the suburb—one section of California Drive straddles the fault, and the road lanes are built on either side of the fault with a large central reservation between them. This was designed so houses would be offset at least 20 metres from the fault, hopefully limiting damage if the fault were to rupture.The Māori names for this area are Te Hau-karetu and for the Hutt River itself; Heretaunga, and Awa Kaiangi. In December 2019, the approved official geographic name of the suburb was gazetted as "Tōtara Park".

Maoribank is a suburb of Upper Hutt, located 2–3 km east-northeast of the city centre. It was predominantly developed between 1950-1970 and had a population of just less than 1000 at the 2013 Census.It is located at the base of the Eastern Hutt Valley Hills, on a slight incline. Maoribank can be accessed from SH2 by exiting at either Mangaroa Hill Road or Moeraki Road. It is bordered by Timberlea by following Norana Road up the hill to the northeast, Brown Owl by crossing SH2 next to the Caltex service station, and Clouston Park to the southwest by crossing Mangaroa Hill Road. The Mangaroa Valley can be accessed by traversing Mangaroa Hill Road over the Mangaroa Hill in the Eastern Hutt Valley Hills. While there are no shops in Maoribank, residents have access to the Caltex service station and small shopping centre in neighbouring Brown Owl. The shops in Central Upper Hutt are only 2 to 3 km away.

Clouston Park is a suburb of Upper Hutt in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, located 0.5–2.5 km east-northeast from the city centre. It was predominantly developed in the 1970s and 1980s. While the suburb is predominantly flat, there are a few larger homes situated on the lower slopes of the Eastern Hutt Valley Hills that offer wide views of the Upper Hutt Valley. Clouston Park can be accessed from SH2 by exiting at either Totara Park Road or Mangaroa Hill Road. It is bordered by Ebdentown to the west (Henry Street onwards), Totara Park to the north (by crossing SH2 at Totara Park Road) and Maoribank to the northeast (by crossing Mangaroa Hill Road). Clouston Park has two small shopping centres, situated on Clouston Park Road and Fergusson Drive. There is also a light industrial area located on Montgomery Crescent and Mountbatten Grove.

Karapoti Gorge is one of the entrances into the Akatarawa Forest, a regional park in the Wellington Region in New Zealand. The Akatarawa River West runs through this narrow, mostly bush-clad gorge towards the Akatarawa Valley. A narrow road winds its way along the steep slopes, providing access for trail biking, mountain biking and walking. Karapoti Gorge is also the starting leg of the annual Karapoti Classic mountain bike event, which runs on the network of tracks in the Akatarawa Forest.

The Cannon Point Walkway is a hiking trail in the Akatarawa Forest on the western side of the Hutt Valley in the North Island of New Zealand. The walkway is a loop of 7.7 kilometres (4.8 mi) in length, ascending to the Cannon Point trig at 341 metres (1,119 ft), and with a total elevation gain of 304 metres (997 ft). The portion of the track through the Akatarawa Forest Park is maintained by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.The name of the hill and the walkway comes from the reports of a large tree that fell near the top of the hill. The fallen tree was said to look like a cannon when viewed from below. The area was part of Valley View Station, and the steep zig-zag track to the summit was originally cut by the farm owners for access on foot and horseback.The road ends are at Bridge Road, Birchville and Tulsa Reserve in Tōtara Park. The route from Bridge Road follows the path of a former water supply pipeline upstream along Clarke's Creek to the historic Birchville Dam. From the dam there is a steep ascent to the ridgeline and then along to the Cannon Point trig at 341 metres (1,119 ft) elevation. From the trig there are panoramic views of the Hutt Valley. The loop is completed by a walk along the banks of the Hutt River between the two road ends.On Sunday 9 October 1932, a "mystery" railway excursion to Upper Hutt attracted 800 people, many of whom took the opportunity to complete a hike of around 10 miles (16 km) from the Akatarawa picnic grounds to the lookout at Cannon Point.A 1.7-kilometre-long (1.1 mi) zig-zag portion of the track from Tulsa Park up to the Cannon Point trig crosses private land, and was closed by the landowner in December 2017 after a dispute between the landowner and the Upper Hutt City Council. Access was restored in August 2018.A new bridge at the Birchville end of the track was opened in October 2022.

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