Physical Description of The Peninsula
The peninsula has an area of 800 hectares. The coastline is rocky, with many coves, steep cliffs, and small pinnacles and caves, but there are also sweeping and sandy beaches, notably at Breaker Bay, Worser Bay, Scorching Bay, Moa Point and Tarakena Bay. A high ridge, running on an approximate north/south axis, forms the spine of the peninsula, with Mount Crawford, in the north, and Beacon Hill, in the south, the high points. The peninsula has a large area of low-lying land, the Miramar flats, and a smaller area of flat land at Seatoun, both of which are mainly covered in residential housing.
The peninsula is largely urbanized, with large suburbs of Miramar, Maupuia, Strathmore and Seatoun, and narrow strips of houses along the coast at Breaker Bay, Karaka Bay and Moa Point. The urban area is a mix of suburban housing, retail outlets, schools, light and service industries, recreation grounds (such as a golf course and sports fields), and the Wellington airport facilities. There are, however, extensive areas of regenerating native bush, pine forest, and remnant farmland, as well as urban gardens. A narrow two lane road circles the peninsula, providing motorists and cyclists with a picturesque route around Miramar's many bays, coves and headlands.
At the entrance to Wellington Harbour, the rocks of Barrett Reef lie close to the shore of the peninsula. On 10 April 1968 the TEV Wahine, an inter-island ferry, foundered on Barrett Reef, and later capsized near Steeple Rock (a pinnacle just off the Seatoun shore). Fifty-three people died in the disaster.
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