Paremata

Paremata has been a suburb of Porirua City, New Zealand, since 1973. Before that, it was part of the now abolished Hutt County.

The area has centuries of history as a stopping-place for travellers. The first Europeans to use it in that way arrived in the middle of the 19th century. Later in that century, the Wellington-Manawatu Railway reached Paremata, with a bridge across the narrow entrance to the Pauatahanui Inlet. Coaches could collect travellers from the train and whisk them north to Paraparaumu, Otaki, Levin, and Palmerston North. In 1936 a road bridge was built, as part of the Centennial Highway project. Naturally that encouraged residential settlement, and a small commercial centre grew up just north of the bridges.

Early in the 21st century, one of Porirua's first food trucks, The Flaming Frog, started business in the same locality, advertising to southbound travellers (accurately) that it was the last refreshment stop on the State Highway before Wellington.