{ "type": "ExternalData", "service": "geoshape", "ids": "Q1759376", "properties": { "fill": "#73a3f0"}} Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and eastern coasts of the Auckland isthmus and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It is matched on the southern side of the city by the shallower waters of the Manukau Harbour. With an area of , it connects the city's main port and the Auckland waterfront to the Hauraki Gulf and the Pacific Ocean. It is sheltered from Pacific storms by Auckland's North Shore, Rangitoto Island, and Waiheke Island. Etymology The oldest Māori name of the harbour was Te Whanga-nui o Toi (The Big Bay of Toi), named after Toi, an early Māori explorer. The name Waitematā means "Te Mata Waters", which according to some traditions refers to a mauri stone (a stone of Māori religious significance) called Te Mata, which was placed on Boat Rock (in the harbour south-west of Chatswood) by Te Arawa chief Kahumatamomoe. A popular translation of Waitematā is "The Obsidian Waters", referring to obsidian rock (matā). Another popular translation, derived from this, is "The Sparkling Waters", as the harbour waters were said to glint like the volcanic glass obsidian. However, this is incorrect, as grammatically Waitematā could not mean this. Geography The harbour is an arm of the Hauraki Gulf, extending west for eighteen kilometres from the end of the Rangitoto Channel. Its entrance is between North Head and Bastion Point in the south. The westernmost ends of the harbour extend past Whenuapai in the northwest, and to Te Atatū in the west, as well as forming the estuarial arm known as the Whau River in the southwest. The northern shore of the harbour consists of North Shore. North Shore suburbs located closest to the shoreline include Birkenhead, Northcote and Devonport (west to east). On the southern side of the harbour is Auckland CBD and the Auckland waterfront, and coastal suburbs such as Mission Bay, Parnell, Herne Bay and Point Chevalier (east to west), the latter of which lies on a short triangular peninsula jutting into the harbour. The harbour is crossed at its narrowest point by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. To the east of the bridge's southern end lie the