Wairarapa - Boundaries

Boundaries

The area is mainly in the Wellington local government region, with some of the northern section in the Manawatu-Wanganui or Hawke's Bay regions.

The area south of Mt Bruce is in the Wellington Region. It contains the Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa Districts (Greytown, Featherston, Martinborough). It is separated from Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt cities by the Rimutaka Ranges.

The district's northern borders are vague, and there is some overlap with southern Hawke's Bay. Part of the reason is that the area was settled from both the north and the west and has been the subject of several reorganisations of local government, but Woodville is often considered to be the northern-most settlement of the region.

The area from Mt Bruce north, extending through Eketahuna, Pahiatua, Woodville, Dannevirke, to just north of Norsewood is part of the Tararua District and is in the Manawatu-Wanganui region, because it is in the catchment of the headwaters of the Manawatu River. The river runs westward between the two mountain ranges (Tararua Range to the south and Ruahine Range to the north) via the Manawatu Gorge, to pass through Palmerston North and reach the west coast of the North Island.

The east coast contains settlements such as Tinui, Castlepoint, and Riversdale Beach, while the main southern rivers drain through or past Lake Wairarapa to discharge into Palliser Bay east of Cook Strait.