The settlement is found in the lower Waitākere Ranges, where the Marama Stream forms a valley as it flows into the Manukau Harbour.

[3][4] South of the settlement is Te Kā-a-Maki / Jackie Hill, a headland in the Manukau Harbour.

The coastline between Whatipu and Little Huia is a unique ecosystem in the area as it is semi-exposed to the Tasman Sea, leading to a diverse pūriri/pōhutukawa forest that includes nīkau, Coprosma arborea and Sophora fulvida.

Pittosporum ellipticum, otherwise rare in the Waitākere Ranges, is relatively common on dry hillsides sheltered from saltspray.

[7] The pā has 12 terrances and five pits, protected by cliff faces on three sides and a ditch on the fourth.

[7] Kaiteke Point ("feigning eating"), the south-western point of Huia Bay, is named after a traditional story involving a Waikato Tainui chief who visited the northern shores of the Manukau Harbour.

Too full from the tarakihi but too polite to refuse, the chief feigned eating the food from the feast.

[9] In the early 1860s, the Gibbons family established a dam for kauri logging on the Marama Stream, near modern-day Little Huia.