Decanter Bay Te Kakaho | |
|---|---|
  Decanter Bay Location of Decanter Bay on Banks Peninsula | |
| Coordinates: 43°39′11″S172°59′56″E / 43.653°S 172.999°E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Region | Canterbury Region |
| District | Christchurch City |
| Ward | Banks Peninsula |
| Local iwi | Ngāi Tahu |
Decanter Bay is a bay on the northern coast of Banks Peninsula in Canterbury, New Zealand, between Little Akaloa and Menzies Bay.
Prior to European settlement, the bay was the location of a Māori pā. In the Māori language the bay is called Te Kakaho, which references the knuckled stem of a reed. [1]
The first European settler of the bay was Thomas Duncan, a disgraced Scottish lawyer who operated a dairy farm in the bay for five years. He had eloped with his ward, Eliza, and so was keeping a low profile for some time. He later moved to Lyttelton and then Christchurch, where he founded Duncan Cotterill law in 1857 with his friend Henry Cotterill. [1]
The name of the bay comes from a specific rock that was situated on the eastern headland of the bay. [2] [1] The rock had the shape of a decanter, but the 'stopper' at the top of the rock fell off in the 1880s due to erosion. [1] [2]
During the 1870s the bay was the location of a steam sawmill, that processed cut lumber from the bay. The settlement was large enough to have a post office, with twice-weekly deliveries of mail by sea from Lyttelton. After the bay had been deforested, the population dwindled. [1]
Decanter Bay is on the north-eastern shore of Banks Peninsula. [2] The next bay, a short way to the south-east, is Little Akaloa / Whakaroa. [3] Coastal features to the north-west include Squally Bay, [4] Otohuao Head, [5] and Menzies Bay. [6]
Duncan Stream runs down the valley and meets the ocean on the northern side of the bay. [7] The stream runs by the nearest major hilltop on the north side of the valley, simply called Graeme, which has an altitude of 446 metres (1,463 ft) above sea level. [8] Vehicle access is provided by Decanter Bay road, which crosses Brockworth Ridge from Little Akaloa. As of 2025 [update] the road is unsealed from the top of Brockworth down into Decanter Bay.
The north-western side of the valley is a Site of Ecological Significance in the Christchurch District Plan. [9] The area is a mixture of original native forest, tussock grassland, and cleared pasture. The valley is home to a number of at risk or naturally uncommon plants (including the fragrant tree-daisy Olearia fragrantissima , [10] Veronica strictissima , Leptinella minor , Brachyglottis sciadophila , and Chenopodium allanii ) and insects (including the locally-endemic Banks Peninsula green Cicada , Zelleria sphenota , Gadira petraula , and Bityla sericea ). [11]
Bird life in the valley includes bellbirds (korimako), grey warblers (riroriro), Swamp harrier (kāhu), fantails (pīwakawaka) and silvereyes (tauhou). [12]
Like many bays on Banks Peninsula, Decanter Bay is a habitat for endangered Hector's dolphins. A 2024 acoustic study found that Decanter Bay logged more dolphin activity than other nearby bays. [13]
