The Taieri Plain (also referred to in the plural as the Taieri Plains) is an area of fertile agricultural land to the southwest 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 ...

, in Otago, New Zealand. The plain covers an area of some 300 square kilometres, with a maximum extent of 30 kilometres. It is not to be confused with Strath Taieri, a second plain of the Taieri River, 40kms to the north beyond Mount Ross. The floodplain of the Taieri and

Waipori River The Waipori River is in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it flows southeast for before joining the Taieri River near Henley, southwest of Dunedin of which it is officially the southernmost border. Goog ...

s, the plain is enclosed to the west by

Maungatua Maungatua, known also as Maukaatua is a prominent ridge in the Taieri Plains in Otago, New Zealand. It rises 895 metres above the floodplain of the Taieri River, directly to the west of Dunedin's airport at Momona. It can be clearly seen from m ...

and the Silverpeaks Range, and to the south and east by a low range of coastal hills.Dowling, P. (ed.) (2004). ’’Reed New Zealand atlas’’. Auckland: Reed Publishing. Map 103. Dairy and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

farming dominate the agriculture of the plain, although

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

farming is starting to have an economic impact. The alluvial nature of the land means that floods are not uncommon, especially in the area around the confluence of the two rivers.

Stopbank A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlin ...

s protect farmland, houses and Dunedin International Airport at Momona. State Highway 1 crosses parts of the plain along some of the stopbanks, with the result that this stretch of road is known locally as ''The "Floodfree" Highway''.Sherwood, S., McNeilly, H., and Dally, J.,
Henley: The Otago township that became an island
, ''stuff.co.nz'', 24 July 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2018. New Zealand's lowest point, at 2m below sea level, is slightly north of the airport on Kirk's Drain Road, Momona. To the northeast, the city of Dunedin is separated from the Taieri Plain by a range of rugged hills which are part of the crater of an extinct

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

. At the northeastern limit of the plain lies the town of

Mosgiel Mosgiel (Māori: ''Te Konika o te Matamata'') is an urban satellite of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, fifteen kilometres west of the city's centre. Since the re-organisation of New Zealand local government in 1989 it has been inside the Dunedin ...

, officially part of the city of Dunedin. Other settlements and towns on the plain include Outram, Henley, Allanton, and Momona. To the southwest, a short stretch of rolling hill country separates the Taieri Plain from South Otago's other main lowland areas around 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 Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-la ...

and

Clutha River The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the P ...

. The twin lakes of Waihola and Waipori sit within these hills, as does the

Sinclair Wetlands The Sinclair Wetlands (''Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau'') are an internationally renowned wetlands located to the south west of Dunedin, New Zealand, at the southern edge of the Taieri Plains. They are on the western side of Lake Waipori and approximate ...

Reserve.

References

Further reading