Paekākāriki () is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island, New Zealand, and one of the northernmost suburbs of Wellington. It lies north of Porirua and northeast of the Wellington CBD. The town's name comes from the Māori language and can mean "parakeet perch". Paekākāriki had a population of 1,665 at the time of the 2013 census, up 66 from the 2006 census. Paekākāriki lies on a narrowing of the thin coastal plain between the Tasman Sea and the Akatarawa Ranges (a spur of the Tararua Ranges), and thus serves as an important transportation node. To the south, State Highway 59 climbs towards Porirua; to the north the plains extend inland from the Kapiti Coast; at Paekākāriki the highway and North Island Main Trunk railway run close together between the coast and hills. Paekākāriki is also served by the nearby Transmission Gully and Kapiti Expressway (both part of State Highway 1). Etymology The town's name comes from the Māori language Paekākāriki. Pae in Māori can mean 'perch' and kākāriki 'parakeet', so pae kākāriki can mean 'parakeet perch'. Though usually written in English without macrons, the New Zealand Geographic Board changed the official name to Paekākāriki on 21 June 2019. The name was also spelled Paikakariki prior to 1905, but is recorded as Paekakariki as far back as 1850. History Prior to European settlement, the area was contested by Māori groups including Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. During the 1820s the great war leader Te Rauparaha defeated and expelled the earlier inhabitants and claimed the region for Ngāti Toa and their allies. Ngāti Haumia, a hapū of Ngāti Toa, built their pa by the mouth of the Wainui steam at the northern end of Paekākāriki. Te Rauparaha, whose pa was on nearby Kapiti Island, died in 1849, the same year that a road connecting Paekākāriki with Porirua was completed. In 1850 the New Zealand Government resettled Wainui's inhabitants and merged their pa with the new settlement of Paekākāriki. Paekākāriki's history has been intimately linked with the railway, and there is a museum at the Paekākāriki railway station commemorating this heritage. In 1886 the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company's line from Wellington to Longburn was completed, and Paekākāriki became an important stop on the journey. In 1908, the line was incorporated into the national network of the New Zealand Railways Department and became part of the North Island Main