Welcome to Paraparaumu!
Paraparaumu, Paraparaumu Beach, and the adjoining village of Raumati are on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. Paraparaumu is a town in the southwestern North Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Kapiti Coast, 55 kilometers (34 mi) north of the nation's capital city, Wellington.
Like other towns in the area, it has a partner settlement at the coast called Paraparaumu Beach, which lies directly opposite Kapiti Island. The two towns form part of the Kapiti Coast District. Together with the nearby Raumati Beach and Raumati South they are among the fastest-growing urban areas in New Zealand and are major dormitory towns with workers commuting to the cities that make up the Wellington urban area. The four towns between them have a 2012 population of over 49,000 people. Inland behind Paraparaumu is the Maungakotukutuku area.
"Paraparaumu" is a Māori-language name meaning "scraps from an earth oven", "parapara" means "dirt" or "scraps", and "umu" means "oven".The village of Lindale is located just north of the Paraparaumu town center. It began as a Tourist and Agricultural Centre, but later gained a reputation for cheese and the Lindale Barnyard petting farm. The old State Highway 1 and the North Island Main Trunk railway both pass through Lindale. The railway line was formerly owned by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, and construction of the line was completed when the ends from Wellington and Longburn (Palmerston North) met near Lindale in Otaihanga in 1886. There are proposals to extend the commuter train service, operated by Transdev Wellington to a new station at Lindale, subject to Wellington Regional Council funding.