tai tapu

Farming locality on the banks of the Halswell River, at the western foot of the Port Hills.

Meaning of place name
Tai: coast; tapu: sacred. It is known to be an obsolete word meaning boundary, possibly a reference to the Halswell River that defined the boundary of the local iwi. Was known as Taitapu until NZ Geographic Board approved change to two separate words in 2009.