Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay is located at the northeast of

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 coun ...

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 ...

, to the south of the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori ...

and north of

Clifford Bay Clifford Bay is a bay in the northeast of the South Island of New Zealand, in the Marlborough Region. It lies between Cloudy Bay to the northwest, and Cape Campbell. The bay's most notable feature is the solar salt extraction works at Lake Grass ...

. In August 2014, the name Cloudy Bay, given by Captain Cook in 1770, was officially altered to Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay, with the Māori name recalling the early explorer Kupe scooping up oysters from the bay. The area lends its name to one of the best known New World white wines ( Cloudy Bay Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc) although the grapes used in production of that wine are grown in the Marlborough wine region further inland.

Features

The bay faces

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...

, stretching north-south over a distance of from the southern extremity of the Marlborough Sounds ( Port Underwood) to White Bluffs. Along its length is the delta of the Wairau River, which reaches the sea at two points. The southern of these forms an entrance to the Big Lagoon, just to the north of White Bluffs. The central point is known as the Wairau Diversion. There is also a swimming beach to the north known as Whites Bay. Fifteen minutes drive from central

Blenheim Blenheim ( ) is the English name of Blindheim, a village in Bavaria, Germany, which was the site of the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Almost all places and other things called Blenheim are named directly or indirectly in honour of the battle. Places ...

is the coastal community of Rārangi which consists of an original beachfront settlement in the northern end of Cloudy Bay which ranges from the typical New Zealand

bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

or crib along with some high quality homes. It also has a newer large subdivision within the central part of Cloudy Bay nearer to the coastal man-made river which is known as the Wairau Diversion.

History

Archaeological excavations at Wairau Bar indicate that

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 ...

were living there in the 'moa-hunter' period about 1288 to 1300 for a period of about 20 years. This is the oldest and best researched site of early Polynesian settlement in New Zealand. Cloudy Bay was named by Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

on 7 February 1770.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.67. Sealers first visited about 1826 and set up stations at Port Underwood, the deep inlet at the north of the bay. They were followed by whalers with John Guard setting up a whaling station at Port Underwood in 1828 with his ship ''Waterloo''. By 1840 there were approximately 150 Europeans in the area, probably the largest concentration in the South Island at that time. Between 1829 and 1832, ''Waterloo'' made three return trips to Sydney per year selling seal skins, flax and whale oil and returning with supplies and trade goods. In 1832 Guard installed Capt Hall as a new master in the Waterloo. On 17 June 1840 the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...

was signed by South Island chiefs at Horahora-Kakahu Island, just off-shore from Port Underwood.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.149. It was being transported around the New Zealand coast on HMS ''Herald''. From The Hill

References

{{Marlborough Region, state=collapsed Bays of the Marlborough Region Wine regions of New Zealand Whaling stations in New Zealand Whaling in New Zealand

Features

History

See also

References