Colac Bay / Ōraka is a small township situated on the bay of the same name facing

Foveaux Strait The Foveaux Strait, (, or , ) separates Stewart Island, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. The strait is about 130 km long (from Ruapuke Island to Little Solander Island), and it widens (from 14 km at Ruapuk ...

, and located on the

Southern Scenic Route The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the ...

, 10 minutes from

Riverton, New Zealand Riverton / Aparima is a small town west of Invercargill and located on the south-eastern shorelines of the Jacobs River Estuary. This is formed by the Aparima and Pourakino rivers, leading through a narrow outflow channel into Foveaux Strait ...

. Surrounding areas include Longwood, Tihaka,

Waipango Waipango is a farming locality in Southland, New Zealand, on the flat between the lower reaches of the Pourakino and Aparima Rivers. It is 8 km north-west of Riverton, 14 km south-west of Thornbury, and 14 km north-east of Colac B ...

, Round Hill, Wakapatu, Ruahine,

Pahia Pahia is a small rural locality in coastal Southland, New Zealand, not to be confused with the North Island tourist resort of Paihia. Surrounding areas include Ruahine, Wakapatu, Round Hill, Colac Bay and Orepuki. The main road, Orepuki-Riverton H ...

and

Orepuki Orepuki in Southland, New Zealand is a small country township on the coast of Te Waewae Bay some 20 minutes from Riverton, 15 minutes from Tuatapere and 50 minutes from Invercargill that sits at the foot of the Longwood Range. Once a thriving ...

. The town hugs the bay, with sandy beaches, and has a popular surf spot known as Trees. It is a beach break that breaks to the left and right. The northern end of the bay is generally good for swimming. The town has a well appointed cafe, craft shop, pub, caravan park, community hall and

Marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

. The town also features a statue of a surfer riding a wave, which is popular with tourists. The hills behind Colac are part of the

Longwood Range The Longwood Range is a range of hills to the west of the Southland Plains, Southland, New Zealand. From the 1860s until the 1950s gold mining was prevalent in the Longwood Ranges. There are many small towns and localities situated around the per ...

, which were popular in early days for gold mining. Further west

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

was also mined for a short time. In the gold mining days there was a significant Chinese village towards Orepuki called Canton. Colac Bay Hill, Lake George, Howell's Hills and the

make up the geographic landmarks. In some places Raratoka Island or Centre Island and

Stewart Island/Rakiura Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...

can be seen by looking across

Name

The word Colac is a contraction of the name of a Māori chief Korako who lived there, being a word that the European whalers pronounced like the English word "colic", hence Kolluck's and "Colac's Bay". With the passing of Section 269 and Schedule 96 of the Ngāi Tahu Claim Settlement Act 1998 Colac Bay is now officially known as Colac Bay / Ōraka. The bay itself is known to Māori as .

Surfing

This coastline offers midtide surfing. The Southern swell breaks cleanly at the Eastern end of the Colac Bay Foreshore Road into both left and right hand breaks. This surf spot is known by the locals as "Trees".Colac Bay
, ''westernsouthland.co.nz''. Retrieved 22 March 2016.

Climate

Colac Bay's climate, which is similar to

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

's for its proximity, is

oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

(Cfb) in Köppen-Geiger climate classification system. Its sea water becomes the warmest in February, at , while the coldest is in August, at .

References

{{coord, 46, 22, S, 167, 56, E, region:NZ_type:waterbody, display=title Bays of Southland, New Zealand Southern Scenic Route Populated places in Southland, New Zealand