This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Motueka is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Motueka is a town in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located close to the mouth of the Motueka River, on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is, after Nelson and Richmond, the third largest centre in the region, with a permanent population of around 6000.
The surrounding district has a number of orchards, as well as growing a variety of specialised crops such as hops. It was formerly the main centre of tobacco growing in New Zealand. A number of small vineyards have developed in recent years, one (Neudorf) gaining an international reputation.
Nearby beaches (such as Kaiteriteri Beach and Marahau) are very popular with holidaymakers, and the area around Motueka has one of the country's highest annual sunshine hour indices.
It is one of the nearest towns to the Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks, and has become the base of many tourism ventures in those parks, as well as Nelson Lakes National Park, and other recreational areas. Extensive limestone cave systems (including Harwood Hole in the Takaka Hill area north of Motueka) attract cavers and rock climbers. Sea kayaking and tramping now attract many thousands of visitors each year.
The area around Motueka is the home of many artists, especially potters and reggae musicians. The local radio station is Fresh FM, 99.4 FM. The nearby Riverside Community is a pacifist intentional community. Founded in the 1940s, it is NZ's oldest cooperative living community.
The name Motueka, or more correctly Motuweka, is Maori, and means weka island, the weka being a small bird of the rail family.
Churches
Motueka was once a centre for the Plymouth Brethren, their NZ patriarch being James George Deck, 1802-1884, who is buried in Motueka.
External links
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 2 November 2008, at 07:20.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Motueka".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.