The small town of Kakanui lies on the coast of

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, in New Zealand, fourteen kilometres to the south of

Oamaru Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railway ...

. The Kakanui River and its estuary divide the township in two. The part of the settlement south of the river, also known as Kakanui South, formerly "Campbells Bay", was developed as a collection of cribs (holiday homes). A recent increase in the development of

subdivisions Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

has increased the density of dwellings within South Kakanui. The Kakanui River reaches the sea near the town, and the low range known as the

Kakanui Mountains The Kakanui Range is a range of high hills located inland from Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand. The range forms a boundary between the valley of the Waitaki River to the north and the high plateau known as the Maniototo and the upper w ...

stretches inland from south of Oamaru towards the

Maniototo The Maniototo Plain, usually simply known as The Maniototo, is an elevated inland region in Otago, New Zealand. The region roughly surrounds the upper reaches of the Taieri River and the Manuherikia River. It is bounded by the Kakanui Range t ...

. Kai Tahu used to temporarily occupy Kakanui as they travelled north and south, as evidenced by the

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

on the north side of the estuary. The area around Kakanui has a reputation for its

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

formations, and produces many

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s. Quarrying formerly took place. The rich and fertile soil of the area around the river has physical properties which make it perfect for use in sports grounds, especially

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

pitches. Many of New Zealand's top cricket venues use Kakanui soil on their

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

blocks.

Beaches

Kakanui's main beach, south of the main headland, is known as Campbell's Bay. It provides the first surfable break and the first safe swimming beach (apart from Timaru's Caroline Bay) south of

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves. The South Island's largest cit ...

. The beach has a length of approximately two kilometres, and the southern end, known as

All Day Bay The small town of Kakanui lies on the coast of Otago, in New Zealand, fourteen kilometres to the south of Oamaru. The Kakanui River and its estuary divide the township in two. The part of the settlement south of the river, also known as Kakanui ...

, offers more shelter than the northern end, but with less surf. The sandy beach below the shingle spit north of the river mouth stretching toward Oamaru is safely swimmable. The beaches south of the main headland feature orange sand. The northern beach has white sand.

Horticulture

Kakanui's rich volcanic soil suits intensive horticulture. The township contains a number of glasshouses, primarily used for growing

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es, but also producing

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

s and

capsicum ''Capsicum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the Solanum, nightshade family Solanaceae, native to Americas, the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their chili pepper or bell pepper fruit. Etymology and names The generic name may come f ...

s (bell peppers). Land surrounding the settlement (especially to the north towards the settlement of Totara) also features

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or s ...

s (often operated by Chinese New Zealanders) growing a wide range of vegetables. Kakanui has a particular reputation for its new-season

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es, which sell throughout all New Zealand.

History

Kakanui (originally ''Kakaunui'') was once a bustling port on the northern side of the river, with a hotel, blacksmith, meat works, and a post office. Kakanui's commerce declined after the construction of the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

inland (going through Maheno) and with

the advent The Advent is a British electronic music act. It was founded in 1993 by Cisco Ferreira and Colin McBean. Soon after leaving school, Ferreira began working as an engineer at Jack Trax Records, a job which enabled him to glimpse first-hand the wor ...

of the frozen-meat trade from 1882.

Demographics

Kakanui is described as a rural settlement by Statistics New Zealand, and covers . It is part of the larger Maheno statistical area. Kakanui had a population of 402 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 63 people (18.6%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 27 people (7.2%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 177 households. There were 198 males and 204 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female, with 72 people (17.9%) aged under 15 years, 33 (8.2%) aged 15 to 29, 186 (46.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 102 (25.4%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 92.5% European/Pākehā, 9.0% Māori, 2.2% Pacific peoples, 1.5% Asian, and 3.0% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Although some people objected to giving their religion, 59.0% had no religion, 29.9% were Christian, 0.7% were Buddhist and 3.0% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 72 (21.8%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 66 (20.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 141 (42.7%) people were employed full-time, 54 (16.4%) were part-time, and 6 (1.8%) were unemployed.

Naming error

Kakanui has been shown on

LINZ Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

maps as "Taranui" since 1978. However, this name is not in use locally, nor is it evident on road signs. "Taranui" may be a naming error from early maps referring to a station farm of that name, located slightly inland from Kakanui.

References

{{Waitaki District, New Zealand Populated places in Otago Waitaki District