Bluff Harbour is a harbour and lagoon in the South Island of New Zealand, adjacent to the town of Bluff. The main port facilities are located close to the entrance from Foveaux Strait of a large natural inlet which includes a large, low-lying eastern arm, Awarua Bay, immediately to the east of the promontory which gives the town and harbour its name.
Bluff is one of New Zealand's earliest continuously occupied European settlements, and has been visited by whalers and sealers since at least 1823. A whaling station was established here in 1836. Bluff Wharf was constructed during the 1860s, and was linked to the nearby city of Invercargill by rail in 1867. As the city's main port, it was a major centre for the export of dairy and meat products in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [1] The construction of the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter in 1971 led to further upgrades in facilities.
A flying boat service operated from the harbour's Ocean Beach in the 1950s and 1960s, both for civilian services and for the RNZAF's patrols of subantarctic waters.
The port facilities are the southernmost in the South Island, and include the country's southernmost commercial deep water port. [2] The port operates under the commercial name of South Port NZ from a 40-hectare (99-acre) artificial island, Island Harbour, and includes a container terminal. Island Harbour was constructed over the course of the 1950s, and was officially opened in December 1960. [1] A major cargo from the port is alumina from the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter, which sits on Tiwai Point, the low-lying eastern shore of the harbour's mouth, directly opposite Island Harbour.
The harbour is also used by Bluff's fishing fleet, mainly smaller vessels and to a large extent centred on Foveaux Strait oyster harvesting. The Bluff oyster is a major New Zealand delicacy.
Bluff Harbour is the northern terminus of the Stewart Island ferry, providing a daily service to and from Oban. The ferry journey across Foveaux Strait is about 39 km (21 nmi) long. [3] The first scheduled service across Foveaux Strait began in 1877 for weekly mail delivery, but soon also carried passengers and general cargo. [4] The Bluff Harbour Board and central government provided subsidised ferry services to Stewart Island for 100 years from 1885 through until 1985, [5] [4] [6] when private operators took over the service. [7] The present high speed catamaran service typically takes one hour. [8] [9] As of 2024, the ferry service is operated by the tourism company RealNZ (formerly Real Journeys). [10]
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.
Riverton, officially Riverton / Aparima, is a small New Zealand town 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Invercargill, on the south-eastern shorelines of the Jacobs River Estuary. The estuary is formed by the Aparima and Pourakino rivers, leading through a narrow outflow channel into Foveaux Strait. Accessible via State Highway 99 on the Southern Scenic Route, the main part of the town is on flat land and the northern end of Oreti Beach. South Riverton is built on the hills between the eastern shore of the estuary and Taramea Bay.
Rakiura National Park is a nature reserve park located on Stewart Island / Rakiura, New Zealand. It is the newest national park of New Zealand and opened in 2002. The protected area covers about 85% of the island.
Bluff, previously known as Campbelltown and often referred to as "The Bluff", is a town and seaport in the Southland region, on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the southernmost town in mainland New Zealand and, despite Slope Point and Stewart Island being further south, Bluff is colloquially used to refer to the southern extremity of the country. According to the 2018 census, the resident population was 1,797, a decrease of 6 since 2013.
Manapōuri Power Station is an underground hydroelectric power station on the western arm of Lake Manapouri in Fiordland National Park, in the South Island of New Zealand. At 854 MW installed capacity, it is the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand, and the second largest power station in New Zealand. The station is noted for the controversy and environmental protests by the Save Manapouri Campaign against raising the level of Lake Manapouri to increase the station's hydraulic head, which galvanised New Zealanders and was one of the foundations of the New Zealand environmental movement.
Tiwai Point lies at the entrance to Bluff Harbour on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. A spit which extends from the western end of the Awarua Plain, it lies between Awarua Bay to the north and Foveaux Strait to the south. It is known for the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter, one of the largest industrial facilities in New Zealand.
Foveaux Strait, is a strait that separates Stewart Island from the South Island of New Zealand. The width of the strait ranges from about 23 to 53 km and it has an area of approximately 2,460 square kilometres (950 sq mi). The depth of the strait ranges between 18 and 46 m. The strait has been described as "one of the roughest and most unpredictable stretches of water in the world". Severe weather and sea conditions in the strait have contributed to multiple shipwrecks and fatalities.
Manapouri is a small town in Southland / Fiordland, in the southwest corner of the South Island, in New Zealand. The township is the westernmost municipality in New Zealand. Located at the edge of the Fiordland National Park, on the eastern shore of Lake Manapouri, close to its outflow into the Waiau River, tourist boat services are based in the town.
The Southland Plains is a general name given to several areas of low-lying land in the South Island of New Zealand, separated by the rise of the Hokonui Hills in the north. It forms a sizeable area of Southland region and encompasses its two principal settlements the city of Invercargill and the town of Gore. The Southland Plains include some of New Zealand's most fertile farmland.
The Awarua Plain is a large area of wetland to the east of Bluff, New Zealand. Covering an area of around 600 km², the plain stretches for 35 kilometres along the coast of Foveaux Strait. This stretch of coast includes the peninsula of Tiwai Point, Awarua Bay, the Waituna Lagoon, and Toetoes Bay. The Mataura River is the major river responsible for the presence of the Awarua Plain; along with the Ōreti River, it is a remnant of the rivers from the Ice Ages that formed the Southland Plains (Murihiku). In addition, several small streams enter Foveaux Strait along this stretch of coast, mainly via Awarua Bay and Waituna Lagoon.
Toetoes Bay is the easternmost of three large bays lying on the Foveaux Strait coast of Southland, New Zealand, the others being Te Waewae Bay and Oreti Beach. The 240 km Mataura River drains to sea at Toetoes Bay, first passing through the Toetoes Harbour estuary. Thirty kilometres in length, the bay is the southern end of the Awarua Plain, an area of swampy land stretching inland for about fifteen kilometres. The eastern end of the bay is close to Slope Point, the South Island's southernmost point, and the western end of the Catlins.
The Solander Islands / Hautere are three eroded remnants volcanic islets towards the western enterance of the Foveaux Strait just beyond New Zealand's South Island. The islands lie 40 km (25 mi) south of the coastline of Fiordland.
The Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter is an aluminium smelter owned by Rio Tinto Group (79.36%) and the Sumitomo Group (20.64%), via a joint venture called New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) Limited.
By the end of the year reports from London regarding Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, and from the Bay of Islands regarding the hospitality of the Māori, encourage Samuel Marsden into thinking the time for the establishment of a Christian mission to New Zealand is now imminent.
Foveaux Strait is the centre of attention for sealing ships. Sealing gangs are dropped along the coast from southern Fiordland to Otago Harbour and on Stewart Island/Rakiura. The Bay of Islands is sometimes on the journey to or from Port Jackson. The Chatham Islands are also visited. A few whalers also operate around New Zealand; some also collect timber from Bay of Islands.
The dredge oyster, Bluff oyster or Chilean oyster, is also known in Chile as ostra verde, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Ostreidae.
Stewart Island is New Zealand's third-largest island, located 30 kilometres south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land area of 1,746 km2 (674 sq mi). Its 164-kilometre (102 mi) coastline is deeply indented by Paterson Inlet (east), Port Pegasus (south), and Mason Bay (west). The island is generally hilly and densely forested. Flightless birds, including penguins, thrive because there are few introduced predators. Almost all the island is owned by the New Zealand government, and over 80 per cent of the island is set aside as the Rakiura National Park.
The Save Aramoana Campaign was formed in 1974 to oppose a proposed aluminium smelter at Aramoana in New Zealand.
Southland is New Zealand's southernmost region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. It includes Southland District, Gore District and the city of Invercargill. Murihiku Southland is bordered by the culturally similar Otago to the north and east, and the West Coast in the extreme northwest. The region covers over 3.1 million hectares and spans 3,613 km of coast. As of June 2023, Southland has a population of 103,900, making it the eleventh-most-populous New Zealand region, and the second-most sparsely populated.
Ocean Beach is an industrial area in the Southland Region of New Zealand. For around 100 years it was the site of a freezing works. This closed in 1991, and the site has been redeveloped as an aquaculture facility.