Toko Mouth is a settlement close to the south bank of the mouth of the

Tokomairaro River The Tokomairaro River is located in Otago, New Zealand. It flows southeast for some 50 kilometres (30 mi), reaching the Pacific Ocean at Toko Mouth 50 kilometres (30 mi) south of Dunedin. The town of Milton is located on the Tokomairar ...

, some south 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 ...

and southeast of

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

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 ...

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 settlement comprises some 70 holiday homes, of which a small percentage are occupied by permanent residents. It is accessible by road from Milton and also via a coastal back-road from Kaitangata, to the southwest. Several beaches surround the area: Chrystall's Beach and Glenledi/Bull Creek to the north and Measly Beach to the south. Chrystall's Beach features the local landmark of

Cook's Head Rock Cook's Head Rock is a phonolite basalt rock standing on the Chrystall's Beach expanse closely north of the rivermouth settlement Toko Mouth of South Otago, New Zealand. The lower faces of the rock are made up of numerous hexagonal basalt columns ...

, a rock formation with hexagonal columns. Bull Creek is a popular site, as the small beach is surrounded by a stand of native bush and is sheltered by a reef. Swimming is relatively safe at both Bull Creek and Toko Mouth, though rips are common at Chrystall's Beach. The

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

just inside the mouth provides a food source for several species of water birds, including

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The e ...

spoonbill Spoonbills are a genus, ''Platalea'', of large, long-legged wading birds. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. The genus name ''Platalea'' derives from Ancient Greek and means "broad", refe ...

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

s, and

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

s. A reef is outside the southern side of the mouth. Shortly up river, the

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

is home to a notable population of

fernbird The New Zealand fernbird or simply fernbird (''Poodytes punctatus'') is an insectivorous bird endemic to New Zealand. In the Māori language, it is named or . Taxonomy The New Zealand fernbird was described by the French zoologists Jean Quo ...

and the occasional

bittern Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern" ...

. From the earlier months of 2007 it has become apparent that the spit which buffers the river mouth has been moving erratically with each successive tide, wearing down to nothing but a stub. Heavy rain and wind has caused this occurrence.

References

External links

More photographs of Toko Mouth
Populated places in Otago Beaches of Otago {{otago-geo-stub