Pepin Island is a privately owned tied island in New Zealand connected by a causeway to the settlement of Cable Bay, north-east of Nelson.
Pepin Island is 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) long, and up to 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) wide. It measures 5.18 square kilometres (2.0 sq mi) in area. [1] The highest point is Stuart Hill, which rises to 401 metres (1,316 ft). [2] The island is located on the northeast coast of Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, with the smaller indentation of Delaware Bay to the east. It is joined to the mainland by a naturally formed pathway made from boulders that have tumbled down nearby hillsides then been shaped into a causeway by the sea. [3]
Historian John Mitchell has said the Ngāti Tama and other iwi came into the area from the 1820s, and that part of the island was once the pā of the paramount chief of Tama, Te Pūoho-o-te-rangi, but that it left Ngāti Tama control around 1880. [3]
The island was named by the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville after his wife, Adèle Pépin. [4]
In 1996, the island was bought by the German businesswoman Dr Viola von Hohenzollern (née Hallman) for NZ$2 million. [5] [6] When von Hohenzollern bought the island, it was overgrazed, run down, and had many wild goats that prevent the growth of native bush. Her farm manager improved the situation by planting trees, fencing and pest control. Von Hohenzollern and farm manager Andrew Newton won a top Nelson Tasman Environmental award in 2011 for their custodianship. [1]
In December 2012, von Hohenzollern died and Pepin Island was inherited by her daughter, Olivia Hallman. [6] [1] The new owner has introduced public open days, and the second one was run in May 2015, [6] which attracted over 1,000 people and was again a fundraiser for the Hira Volunteer Fire Force. [7]
In late 2018, the island went on sale, with an asking price of $NZ16 million. [1] Nelson mayor Rachel Reese expressed interest that the island be locally owned. [3] In March 2021, a staff member from real estate agency Sotheby's said that the price had been lowered to $13.5 million. In May 2021, it was announced that the island had been sold to a New Zealand company, but that the name of the purchaser and the cost were being kept secret. According to Sotheby's, the new owner intends "to continue the current farming operation, tourist accommodation business, maintain current public access and further explore the establishment of strategic environmental areas across the island". [8] 41°9′5″S173°25′32″E / 41.15139°S 173.42556°E
D'Urville Island, Māori name Rangitoto ki te Tonga, is the largest island in the Marlborough Sounds, on the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It was named after the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. With an area of approximately 150 square kilometres (58 sq mi), it is the eighth-largest island of New Zealand, and has around 52 permanent residents. The local authority is the Marlborough District Council.
Nelson is a New Zealand city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-oldest settled city in New Zealand; it was established in 1841 and became a city by royal charter in 1858.
The South Island, also named Te Waipounamu in Māori, is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres (58,084 sq mi), making it the world's 12th-largest island, constituting 56% of New Zealand's land area. At low altitude, it has an oceanic climate.
Tasman District is a local government district in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It borders the Canterbury Region, West Coast Region, Marlborough Region and Nelson City. It is administered by the Tasman District Council, a unitary authority, which sits at Richmond, with community boards serving outlying communities in Motueka and Golden Bay / Mohua. The city of Nelson has its own unitary authority separate from Tasman District, and together they comprise a single region in some contexts, but not for local government functions or resource management (planning) functions.
Nelson Lakes National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, at the northern end of the Southern Alps. It was created in 1956. The park contains beech forests, multiple lakes, snow-covered mountains and valleys created by glaciers during the ice ages.
Abel Tasman National Park is a national park at the north end of New Zealand's South Island. It covers 237.1 km2 (91.5 sq mi) of land between Golden Bay / Mohua and Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, making it the smallest of New Zealand's national parks. Despite this, the park is one of the most visited, partially due to the popularity of the Abel Tasman Coast Track which spans 60 km (37 mi) along the eastern and northern coastal areas of the park.
Motueka is a town in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the mouth of the Motueka River on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is the second largest in the Tasman Region, with a population of 8,320 as of June 2023.
Tākaka is a small town situated at the southeastern end of Golden Bay, at the northern end of New Zealand's South Island, located on the lower reaches of the Tākaka River. State Highway 60 runs through Takaka and follows the river valley before climbing over Tākaka Hill, to Motueka linking Golden Bay with the more populated coast of Tasman Bay to the southeast. The town is served by Tākaka Aerodrome.
Pelorus Sound is the largest of the sounds which make up the Marlborough Sounds at the north of the South Island, New Zealand.
Rotokura / Cable Bay is a bay and small settlement 18 kilometres (11 mi) north-east of Nelson in New Zealand. The settlement at the head of the bay is at the southern end of a thin strip of land or causeway connecting Pepin Island with the South Island.
Ngāti Rārua are a Māori tribe of the Tainui tribal confederation.
French Pass is a narrow and treacherous stretch of water that separates D'Urville Island, at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand, from the mainland coast. At one end is Tasman Bay, and at the other end the outer Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere leads out to Cook Strait.
Golden Bay is a large shallow bay in New Zealand's Tasman District, near the northern tip of the South Island. An arm of the Tasman Sea, the bay lies northwest of Tasman Bay and Cook Strait. It is protected in the north by Farewell Spit, a 26 km long arm of fine golden sand that is the country's longest sandspit. The Aorere and Tākaka rivers are the major waterways to flow into the bay from the south and the west.
Motuareronui / Adele Island is a small island off the coast of New Zealand. It is contained within Abel Tasman National Park. The navigator and botanist Dumont d'Urville charted the island in 1827.
Tonga Island is a small (0.15 km2) island in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It lies within the Abel Tasman National Park, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) off Onetahuti Beach. The island has a flourishing fur seal colony, and is surrounded by the Tonga Island Marine Reserve, which was inaugurated in 1993.
The history of the Nelson Region of New Zealand dates back to settlement by the Māori people in about the 12th century. The Nelson and Marlborough Region were known to the Māori as Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka a Maui which means "The Prow of the Canoe of Maui".
Adèle Dorothée Dumont d'Urville was the wife of French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, after whom Adélie Land, Adele Island, Adélie penguin and Cape Pepin are named. While Adélie Land, Adele Island and Cape Pepin were named by Jules Dumont d'Urville in honor of his wife, the penguin was named after Adélie Land where it was discovered. In 1981, an airmail postage stamp of the French Antarctic Territory featuring Adèle Dumont d'Urville was released.
Te Atiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui is a Māori iwi (tribe) in the upper South Island of New Zealand. Its rohe extends from Golden Bay and Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island to Cape Campbell, St Arnaud and Westport.
Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, who arrived on the Kurahaupō waka. In the 1600s the iwi settled northwestern South Island, becoming a major power in the region until the 1800s. In 1642, members of Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri made the first known contact between Europeans and Māori, when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman visited Golden Bay / Mohua.
Westhaven Marine Reserve is a marine reserve covering an area of 536 hectares in the Whanganui Inlet at the top of New Zealand's South Island. It was established in 1994 and is administered by the Department of Conservation.