Porirua

Porirua accommodation faces a shallow harbour twenty minutes north of Wellington, with beaches, bush walks and the Pātaka gallery close by.

Walking tracks follow the Pāuatahanui Inlet, where wading birds work the mudflats at the far end of the harbour. Titahi Bay turns its back on all that, with surf and a row of old boatsheds on the sand. A holiday home here keeps the capital in reach of a quieter morning.