Waiheke Island (/waɪˈhɛkiː/; Māori: ) is an island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, located about 17.7 km (11.0 mi) from Auckland.
The island is the second-largest in the Hauraki Gulf after Great Barrier Island. It is the most populated, with nearly 8,730 permanent residents plus another estimated 3,400 who have second or holiday homes on the island. It is New Zealand's most densely populated island, with 83.58 people/km², and the third most populated after the North and South Island. It is the most accessible offshore island in the Gulf, due to regular passenger and car ferry services, a Waiheke based helicopter operator and some other air links.
Waiheke translates as "the descending waters" or "ebbing water". This refers to an event when Maori explorer Kahumatamomoe landed on the island and urinated. The name originally referred only to the stream at Onetangi, but now is used to refer to the entire island.
Read more about Waiheke Island: Governance, Transport and Infrastructure, Wine
Famous quotes containing the word island:
“The shifting islands! who would not be willing that his house should be undermined by such a foe! The inhabitant of an island can tell what currents formed the land which he cultivates; and his earth is still being created or destroyed. There before his door, perchance, still empties the stream which brought down the material of his farm ages before, and is still bringing it down or washing it away,—the graceful, gentle robber!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)