Hoopers Inlet

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Hoopers Inlet (lower, left) and Papanui Inlet (upper, right) are clearly visible on this NASA satellite photo of Otago Peninsula and Otago Harbour. Otago harbour landsat.jpg
Hoopers Inlet (lower, left) and Papanui Inlet (upper, right) are clearly visible on this NASA satellite photo of Otago Peninsula and Otago Harbour.

Hoopers Inlet [1] is one of two large inlets in the Pacific coast of Otago Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand.

The origin of the name is a little confused; there was an early settler family called Hooper who lived nearby, but the name appears on charts made prior to their arrival in the area. A. W. Reed has suggested that the name is a corruption of "Cooper's Inlet", named for Daniel Cooper, the ship's captain of the Unity, which operated in the area during the Peninsula's years as a base for sealers. [2] The inlet was on a traditional Māori route for collecting shellfish, which ran from Otakou to what is now St. Clair. [3] The Māori name for the inlet was Puke-tu-roto, meaning either "hills standing around a lake" or "hills standing inland". [2]

Like its near neighbour, Papanui Inlet, Hoopers Inlet is known for its diverse bird life. The inlet lies 2 km to the south of Portobello and can be reached by road from both there and the city of Dunedin (of which it is administratively a part), the centre of which lies 15 kilometres to the west. Both inlets are shallow, becoming predominantly sand and mud flats at low tide.

The mouth of Hoopers Inlet is narrowed by a large spit, the seaward coast of which forms Allans Beach. Behind this beach is a significant area of wetland and swamp, which is home to many species of flora and birds. [4]

Hoopers Inlet is separated from Papanui Inlet by a strip of land which is the isthmus to a hilly peninsula containing Cape Saunders and the peninsula's highest point, the 408-metre Mount Charles.

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Papanui Inlet

Papanui Inlet is the northernmost of two large inlets in the Pacific coast of Otago Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand.

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Tomahawk Beach

Tomahawk Beach is a beach on the Pacific Ocean 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) southeast of the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located within the Ocean Grove Reserve between St Kilda Beach and Smaills Beach, at the point where Otago Peninsula joins the mainland of the South Island, Tomahawk Beach is a white sand beach popular with casual beach-goers and dog-walkers as well as surfers. Sand is extracted from the Tomahawk Lagoon channel, which runs across the beach, for commercial purposes and to prevent flooding.

Allans Beach Beach in Otago Region, New Zealand

Allans Beach is a white sand beach on the Pacific Ocean coast of Otago Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand. It forms the seaward shore of a large spit at the entrance to Hoopers Inlet. Allans Beach is 25 kilometres (16 mi) by road from Dunedin city centre and 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the small town of Portobello. It receives little human traffic but is known to trampers, surfers, and naturists.

References

  1. Official geographical names in New Zealand tend to eschew apostrophes, even when - as in this case - they would be grammatically appropriate.
  2. 1 2 Reed, A.W. (1975) Place names of New Zealand. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed. p.178
  3. Goodall, M., and Griffiths, G. (1980) Maori Dunedin. Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books. ISBN   0-908774-45-1. p.17
  4. "Hoopers Inlet Swamp", Otago Regional Council website.

Coordinates: 45°52′00″S170°40′00″E / 45.86667°S 170.66667°E / -45.86667; 170.66667