Industry, Development, Opportunities & Recreation 

Whangarei is known as “Te Waharoa o te Raki”(The Gateway of the North), with a population of 40,000 people Whangarei is the most northern City in Aotearoa New Zealand and also the regional business hub. Northland just like the rest of Aotearoa New Zealand owed its foundation blocks of industry to the Cow Cocky ie...the Dairy farmer, Dry stock farmer and Sheep farmer.

The pasteurized milk, butter and its byproducts, meat and wool, globally as a commodity is well in demand for its quality. Farmers developed the native forest, bush and swamp into arable land. And what you see on the hills surrounding the city of Whangarei today is mostly 90 year old second growth native forest and bush, with small stands of the old native trees in patches and the newly planted product trees, Radiata Pine. Today some  areas that were once dairy farms have now been transformed into orchards for Avocados, Kiwi Fruit, Olive and Oranges Trees that stretch right through the Northland region. Taitokerau Northland is the home to Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest tree, the Kauri (Agathis australis), these trees were originally milled by the early Europeans for the building of anything from ships to homes. Nowadays the Kauri is so scarce, that it’s used mainly for furniture and feature work inside houses. You will only find Kauri in the top third of the North Island. In the 1800’s Northland was clad with forests of Kauri, Puriri (Vitex lucens)and Kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrylioides). The Puriri is the same family as the Teak wood and was used by the early farmer for fence posts. The tree has round bright red berries that the Kereru, theNew Zealand wild pigeon and other native birds eat. The Kahikatea is the tallest tree in Aotearoa New Zealand and the best examples of these trees can be found on the west coast of the South Island. The Kahikatea is an odorless wood and was used by early farmers to package and export butter.