Overview
Botanists from Te Papa visited Moa Point several times through 2011 and 2012. The multiple trips allowed the most to be made of conveniently-timed low tides for collecting seaweeds, and enabled the collection of land plants flowering during the different seasons.
Hue te Taka Peninsula at Moa Point is a small land mass that protrudes from the southern coast of Wellington near the airport.
The peninsula is an uplifted marine rock platform and a tidal island, so access to the island is best planned around the low tide.
The composition and stature of any plant community is determined by a number of influences including soil type, climate and available seed stock from the surrounding landscape (transported by animals, wind or water). Moa Point is extremely windy with shallow salt laden soils, and rock stacks are a feature of its landscape.