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Home > Parks and facilities > Regional parks > Find a regional park > Te Arai

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Remember to be a tidy Kiwi!

All our regional parks are rubbish free. Whether you call it rubbish, trash or garbage, please bag it all up and recycle it or throw it away when you return home.

About

Park facilities

Park activities

History

About Te Arai

In August 2008, the Auckland Regional Council purchased nearly 50 hectares of new parkland in the north east of Rodney. Highly sensitive dune lake ecosystems, wetlands, coastal broadleaf forest and regenerating forest cover the majority of the land.

Park information

Pedestrian access:	Open 24 hours
Summer gate opening hours:	12:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. (Daylight savings)
Winter gate opening hours:	12:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. (Non daylight savings)
Distance from CBD:	90 km
Physical address:	Te Arai Road, Te Arai Point
Casual group size:	50

Dog walking restrictions

All coast lines and beaches, northern car park and upper western park land:	No dogs at all times, including in vehicles.
Eastern car park, quarry and the lower eastern park land to the south:	Dogs are allowed on leash, all year.

Click here for information about which regional parks allow restricted dog walking

How to get to Te Arai

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Maps

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Park facilities

SCC campgrounds and designated parking areas Te Arai SCC campground

Music

No amplified music is allowed. This includes bluetooth speakers and Amps.

Park activities

Dog walking with restrictions

All coast lines and beaches, northern car park and upper western park land:	No dogs at all times, including in vehicles.
Eastern car park, quarry and the lower eastern park land to the south:	Dogs are allowed on leash, all year.

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Click here to obatin rules and guidelines for flying UAVs and drones. In particular pay attention to the code of conduct.

History

The council purchased 50 hectares of land on Te Ārai Point in 2008 for regional park purposes. The park land adjoins an existing 37 hectare local reserve and an extensive area of Crown land to the south, currently leased for commercial forestry. The large area of commercial forest to the north is privately owned and is subject to future development proposals.

The regional park land occupies the most prominent headland on this part of the eastern coast offering panoramic views to Pākiri Beach in the south and Mangawhai Heads sand spit to the north, and the rural hinterland and the Tomarata Lakes to the west.

Te Ārai o Tahuhunuiarangi (the shelter of Tahuhu) is the full name of this parkland and was the pa of the founding ancestor of Ngai Tahuhunuiarangi. The only prominent point jutting out into the South Pacific Ocean between Mangawhai (Bream tail) and Omaha (Cape Rodney), it was visited frequently by passing waka. Te Ārai is claimed by many iwi and hapū, as a tribal boundary marker to a burial site. Kawerau, Ngāti Whatua, Hauraki and Ngāti Wai (Ngāti Manuhiri) claim the right to exercise kaitiakitanga over Te Ārai to this day.