Pukekohe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Location of Pukekohe.

Pukekohe is a town in the Franklin district of the North Island of New Zealand, and sits in the Auckland region. It is approximately 50 kilometres south of Auckland City, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Pukekohe and nearby Bombay form the natural southern limit of the Auckland region.

Pukekohe is the main rural service town for Franklin district. Its population at the 2001 census was 18,825, mainly of European descent but also many descendants of the Chinese and Indian families that came to start market-gardens, and indigenous Maori. It is likely to grow steadily in the coming decades, being on the edge of the fast-growing Auckland region.

The volcanic soil supports a large horticultural and dairy farming industry. The Pukekohe long keeper onion is well known internationally.

The Māori word puke-kohe means “hill of the kohekohe”, New Zealand’s native mahogany. Pukekohe has a high school, a medium-sized rugby stadium (home of the Counties-Manukau Steelers), horse-racing, and Pukekohe Park Raceway, the best motorsports facility in New Zealand.^{[citation needed]}

Pukekohe is on the North Island Main Trunk Railway and is the southernmost station of the Auckland suburban rail network, at the end of the Eastern and Southern Lines.

[edit] Notable Locals

Blair Hopping - Field hockey player
Peter (Possum) Bourne - Rallycar driver
Simon Doull - New Zealand Cricketer and Radio Personality

[edit] External links

The Overlander passenger train stops: (North Island Main Trunk Railway)
Auckland (Britomart) \| Middlemore \| Papakura \| Pukekohe \| Hamilton \| Otorohanga \| Te Kuiti \| Taumarunui \| National Park \| Ohakune \| Marton \| Feilding \| Palmerston North \| Levin \| Paraparaumu \| Porirua \| Wellington (Railway Station)