Te Ara Tupua is an enormously popular path along the harbour shore between Ngauranga and Petone. The name Te Ara Tupua was gifted by the Taranaki Iwi and means “The Path of the Ancients”, reflecting the early settlers who came from Taranaki and created various settlements (pa) along this route, from where they could catch their seafood (kai moana) from the harbour and other animals in the hills. Those settlements are now the rest areas shown on the map on the right. Each rest area has information about the history but also how the work to strengthen the seashore has been done in such a way to encourage the marine ecology, birdlife and even the native lizards to reestablish themselves here.