Flaxton, New Zealand facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Flaxton
Rural Area
Flaxton Location in New Zealand
Country	New Zealand
Region	Canterbury
Territorial authority	Waimakariri District
Electorates	Waimakariri Te Tai Tonga (Maori electorate)
Time zone	UTC+12 (NZST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+13 (NZDT)
Postcode	7691
Area code(s)	03
Local iwi	Ngāi Tahu

Flaxton is a small, quiet rural community. It is located in the Waimakariri District of New Zealand. You can find it nestled between the towns of Rangiora and Kaiapoi.

Flaxton's Past: Draining the Swamp

Flaxton sits on land that was once a huge swamp. This swamp was known as the Rangiora swamp. It covered about 4,000 acres, which is a very large area!

To make the land useful, especially for farming, people needed to drain the water away. Plans for this big project were made, and the first part of the main drain was dug around 1860. This first section was about two miles long.

Just two years later, in 1862, workers added another two and a half miles to the main drain. They also dug several smaller drains that branched off from the main one. These drains were very successful. They helped to dry out the land. In some places, the ground level even dropped by as much as eight feet because the water was gone! This transformation allowed the area to become the community it is today.

Flaxton's Weather: Average Temperatures

Flaxton experiences a mild climate. The average temperature in summer is around 16.2 degrees Celsius. In winter, the average temperature is about 6.4 degrees Celsius.

Here is a table showing the normal average temperature for each month of the year: