Rāroa
Rāroa is the small pocket of streets around Rāroa station between Johnsonville and Ngaio, on the Johnsonville Line, with Rāroa Park and the footbridge on one side and Onslow College and Rāroa Normal Intermediate on the other.
Why people love it here
Rāroa is a name people use for the few streets around the station rather than a line on the council map, which puts the area inside Johnsonville. It is Fraser Avenue, Haumia Street, Tuapapa Street and Kitchener Terrace, on the slope between Johnsonville and the top of the Ngaio side.
The station opened on 17 June 1940, after the line was electrified, and there were so few houses in sight at the time that a guard used to announce it as Snake Gully. It was the last place on the line to take freight: cattle were unloaded at the Rāroa stockyards from 1958 until about 1973.
Getting about here is on foot as much as by car. Access to the platform is from Fraser Avenue, by a walkway from Haumia Street, and by the footbridge from Burma Road, Rāroa Park and Tuapapa Street.
Rāroa Park is the green in the middle of it, on Burma Road, a recreation reserve of a little over two hectares with playing fields, a play area and the footbridge across to the station. The Gilbert Young Play Area is the other local playground, at 60 Fraser Avenue.
Two schools sit on the same short stretch. Rāroa Normal Intermediate is on Haumia Street, a few minutes from the platform, and Onslow College, which opened in 1956 for the growing northern suburbs, is just up Burma Road.
Johnsonville is the rest of the everyday: Alex Moore Park's sports fields on Moorefield Road, the shopping centre, and Waitohi, where the library, the Keith Spry Pool and a cafe share one building.
The best of Rāroa
Every pick checked against its own listing on 21 September 2026.
What you can buy here
The post-war state and settler house
The modest houses that filled the streets around the station after it opened in 1940.
The later hillside home
Built up the slope as Johnsonville grew around it.
The townhouse near the station
Newer, smaller building on the flatter land within walking distance of the platform.
A station, a park and two schools
Rāroa station
On Fraser Avenue since 1940, with a footbridge over to Burma Road and the park.
Rāroa Park
The fields and the play area on Burma Road, with Onslow College and Rāroa Normal Intermediate alongside.
What people ask about Rāroa
Where is Rāroa?
Rāroa is the group of streets around Rāroa station on the Johnsonville Line, between Johnsonville and Ngaio; the council's suburb map treats the area as part of Johnsonville.
How far is Rāroa from Wellington's city centre?
It is two stops from Johnsonville on the Johnsonville Line, with trains every half hour and more often at peak times.
What is Rāroa known for?
The station, Rāroa Park and its footbridge, and being the address of Onslow College and Rāroa Normal Intermediate.
What kind of homes are in Rāroa?
Modest post-war houses on the streets that grew up around the station, later homes up the slope, and newer townhouses on the flatter land near the platform.
What schools are in Rāroa?
Rāroa Normal Intermediate is on Haumia Street and Onslow College is on Burma Road; Onslow's home zone covers Johnsonville and the suburbs around it.
Tell me your street and I will send you your Rāroa performance report, with specific sales and data.
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