Papanui Inlet is the northernmost 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 inlet's name is of

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 ...

origin, and means large plain (''papa'', flat land, and ''nui'', big).Reed, A.W. (1975) ''Place names of New Zealand.'' Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed. p.319 The name originally referred to the area of dunes and mudflats immediately to the north of the inlet, but was transferred to the inlet itself at the time of European settlement on the peninsula. The inlet was also known by Māori as ''Makahoe''. Like its near neighbour,

Hoopers Inlet Hoopers Inlet 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 appe ...

, Papanui Inlet is known for its diverse bird life. The inlet lies 3 km to the east of Portobello. A short road linking the two inlets enables Papanui Inlet to be reached by road from both Portobello 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 18 kilometres to the west. Both inlets are shallow, becoming predominantly sand and mud flats at low tide. The mouth of Papanui Inlet opens to the east, directly into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, 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 ...

. While the southern shore of the inlet is flanked by steep hills, the northern shore is dominated by a large area of flat land known as Okia Flat, much of which is protected as Okia Reserve. Beyond this lies Wickliffe Bay, which is bordered by

Victory Beach Victory Beach is located on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Otago Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is by road from Dunedin city centre and from the nearby town of Portobello, New Zealand, Portobello. The longest beach on the pen ...

, Otago Peninsula's longest beach. This flat land effectively narrows the mouth of the inlet. The remains of the 1861 wreck of the SS ''Victory'' (for which the beach is named) are still visible close to the inlet's mouth at low tide. Both this wreck and a historic

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

close to the southern shore of the inlet's mouth are registered as Category II historic sites by the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage bui ...

. Papanui Inlet is separated from Hoopers 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. A road, leading to Cape Saunders, skirts the southern shore of the inlet. The inlet is registered as a Coastal Protection Area by the

Otago Regional Council Otago Regional Council (ORC) is the regional council for Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. The council's principal office is Regional House on Stafford Street in Dunedin with 250–275 staff, with smaller offices in Queenstown and Ale ...

, due to its cultural and spiritual values to the Kāi Tahu

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

, its status as an important habitat for bird and sea life, and for its historic sites.Schedule 2: Coastal protection Areas, Coastal Development Areas, Coastal Recreation Areas, and Coastal Harbourside Areas
Otago Regional Council Regional Plan (1 January 2012). Retrieved 28 May 2014.

References

{{Coord, 45, 50, 50, S, 170, 41, 40, E, display=title, region:NZ-OTA_source:dewiki_scale:250000 Otago Peninsula Landforms of Otago Inlets of New Zealand