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 definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

coast of

Otago Peninsula The Otago Peninsula ( mi, Muaūpoko) 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 sou ...

, in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. 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 C ...

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, Papanui Inlet is known for its diverse bird life. The inlet lies 3 km to the east of

Portobello Portobello, Porto Bello, Porto Belo, Portabello, or Portabella may refer to: Places Brazil * Porto Belo Ireland * Portobello, Dublin * Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin formerly ''Portobello Barracks'' New Zealand * Portobello, New Zealand, on Ot ...

. A short road linking the two inlets enables Papanui Inlet to be reached by road from both Portobello and the city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

(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 oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. 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, by road from Dunedin city centre and from the nearby town of Portobello. The longest beach on the peninsula, Victory Beach is located ...

, 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 (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 ...

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) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

. 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 Aotearoa New Zealand's Te Wai Pounamu, the South Island. It is home to the Cape Saunders Lighthouse. Capta ...

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 Alexand ...

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

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

, 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