Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay is located at the northeast of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

, to the south of the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds (Māori language, te reo Māori: ''Te Tauihu-o-te-Waka'') are an extensive network of ria, sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination ...

and north of

Clifford Bay Clifford Bay is a bay in the northeast of the South Island of New Zealand, in the Marlborough Region. It lies between Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay to the northwest, and Cape Campbell to the southeast. The bay's shoreline is dominated by extensiv ...

. In August 2014, the name Cloudy Bay, given by Captain Cook in 1770, was officially altered to Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay, with the Māori name recalling the early explorer

Kupe Kupe was a legendary Polynesian explorer who, according to Māori oral history, was the first person to discover New Zealand. He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, and probably spoke a ...

scooping up oysters from the bay. The area lends its name to one of the best known New World white wines ( Cloudy Bay Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc) although the grapes used in production of that wine are grown in the

Marlborough wine region The Marlborough wine region is by far New Zealand's largest, accounting in 2020 for three quarters of the country's wine production, 70% of its vineyard area and 85% of its wine exports. A Geographical Indication in the north-east of the South ...

further inland.

Features

The bay faces

Cook Strait Cook Strait () is a strait that separates the North Island, North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, ...

, stretching north–south over a distance of from the southern extremity of the Marlborough Sounds (

Port Underwood Te Whanganui / Port Underwood is a sheltered harbour which forms the north-east extension of Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay at the northeast of New Zealand's South Island, on the east coast of the Marlborough Sounds.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edi ...

) to White Bluffs. Along its length is the delta of the

Wairau River The Wairau River is one of the longest rivers in New Zealand's South Island. It flows for from the Spenser Mountains (a northern range of the Southern Alps), firstly in a northwards direction and then northeast down a long, straight valley i ...

, which reaches the sea at two points. The southern of these forms an entrance to the Big Lagoon, just to the north of White Bluffs. The central point is known as the Wairau Diversion. There is also a swimming beach to the north known as Whites Bay. Fifteen minutes drive from central Blenheim is the coastal community of

Rārangi Rārangi is a very small town in the South Island of New Zealand which is approximately 15 minutes drive to the north-east of Blenheim, on the coast of Cloudy Bay. A macron was officially added to the name in May 2021. Demographics Rārangi ...

which consists of an original beachfront settlement in the northern end of Cloudy Bay which ranges from the typical New Zealand

bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

or crib along with some high quality homes. It also has a newer large subdivision within the central part of Cloudy Bay nearer to the coastal man-made river which is known as the Wairau Diversion.

History

Archaeological excavations at

Wairau Bar The Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi, is a gravel bar formed where the Wairau River meets the sea in Cloudy Bay, Marlborough, north-eastern South Island, New Zealand. It is an important archaeological site, settled by explorers from East Polynesia ...

indicate that

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

were living there in the 'moa-hunter' period about 1288 to 1300 for a period of about 20 years. This is the oldest and best researched site of early Polynesian settlement in New Zealand. Cloudy Bay was named by Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

on 7 February 1770.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.67. Sealers first visited about 1826 and set up stations at Port Underwood, the deep inlet at the north of the bay. They were followed by whalers with

John Guard John Guard ( 1791/92 – 1857) was an English convict sent to Australia who was one of the first European settlers in the South Island of New Zealand, working as a whaler and trader. Early life Guard was born in London in 1791 or 1792. On 17 M ...

setting up a whaling station at Port Underwood in 1828 with his ship ''Waterloo''. By 1840 there were approximately 150 Europeans in the area, probably the largest concentration in the South Island at that time. Between 1829 and 1832, ''Waterloo'' made three return trips to Sydney per year selling seal skins, flax and whale oil and returning with supplies and trade goods. In 1832 Guard installed Capt Hall as a new master in the Waterloo. On 17 June 1840 the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...

was signed by South Island chiefs at Horahora-Kakahu Island, just off-shore from Port Underwood.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.149. It was being transported around the New Zealand coast on HMS ''Herald''. From The Hill

References

{{Marlborough Region, state=collapsed Bays of the Marlborough District Whaling stations in New Zealand Whaling in New Zealand

Features

History

See also

References