Hoopers Inlet is one of two large inlets in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

coast of

Otago Peninsula The Otago Peninsula () is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies south-east of Ot ...

, in the

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 ...

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 ...

. 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 Sealer may refer either to a person or ship engaged in seal hunting, or to a sealant; associated terms include: Seal hunting * Sealer Hill, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica * Sealers' Oven, bread oven of mud and stone built by sealers around 1800 ...

.Reed, A.W. (1975) ''Place names of New Zealand.'' Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed. p.178 The inlet was on a traditional Māori route for collecting shellfish, which ran from

Otakou Otakou ( ) is a settlement within the boundaries of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located 25 kilometres from the city centre at the eastern end of Otago Peninsula, close to the entrance of Otago Harbour. Though a small fishing villa ...

to what is now St. Clair.Goodall, M., and Griffiths, G. (1980) ''Maori Dunedin.'' Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books. . p.17 The Māori name for the inlet was ''Puke-tu-roto'', meaning either "hills standing around a lake" or "hills standing inland". Like its near neighbour,

Papanui Inlet Papanui Inlet is the northernmost of two large inlets in the Pacific coast of Otago Peninsula, in the South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surfac ...

, 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 Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

(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.Hoopers Inlet Swamp
, Otago Regional Council website. Hoopers Inlet is separated from Papanui Inlet by a strip of land which is the isthmus to a hilly peninsula containing

Cape Saunders Kaimata, or Cape Saunders, is the prominent headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of Muaupoko, the Otago Peninsula, in the far south-east of New Zealand's South Island. It is home to the Cape Saunders Lighthouse. Captain James Cook sighted the la ...

and the peninsula's highest point, the 408-metre Mount Charles.

References

Otago Peninsula Landforms of Otago Inlets of New Zealand {{otago-geo-stub