Tasman Bay is a large V-shaped bay at the north end of
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
's
South IslandThe South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
. Located in the centre of the island's northern coast, it stretches along 120 kilometres (75 miles) of coastline and is 70 kilometres (43 miles) across at its widest point. It is an arm of the
Tasman SeaThe Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately 2000 kilometres across. It extends 2800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first...
, lying on the western approach to
Cook StraitCook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
.
At the bay's western extremity, the land around the bay is rough and densely forested. Separation Point, the westernmost point of the bay, is located in
Abel Tasman National ParkAbel Tasman National Park is a national park located at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. The park was founded in 1942 and with a coverage of only 225.3 square kilometres, is the smallest of New Zealand's national parks...
and separates Tasman Bay from its smaller neighbour,
Golden BayGolden Bay lies at the edge of the junction between the Tasman Sea and Cook Strait. It stretches for 45 kilometres from the long sand spit of Farewell Spit in the north to Separation Point in Abel Tasman National Park at its southern extremity...
.
Tasman Bay is a large V-shaped bay at the north end of
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
's
South IslandThe South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
. Located in the centre of the island's northern coast, it stretches along 120 kilometres (75 miles) of coastline and is 70 kilometres (43 miles) across at its widest point. It is an arm of the
Tasman SeaThe Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately 2000 kilometres across. It extends 2800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first...
, lying on the western approach to
Cook StraitCook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
.
At the bay's western extremity, the land around the bay is rough and densely forested. Separation Point, the westernmost point of the bay, is located in
Abel Tasman National ParkAbel Tasman National Park is a national park located at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. The park was founded in 1942 and with a coverage of only 225.3 square kilometres, is the smallest of New Zealand's national parks...
and separates Tasman Bay from its smaller neighbour,
Golden BayGolden Bay lies at the edge of the junction between the Tasman Sea and Cook Strait. It stretches for 45 kilometres from the long sand spit of Farewell Spit in the north to Separation Point in Abel Tasman National Park at its southern extremity...
. To the east, the land is also steep, with the westernmost points of sea-drowned valleys of the
Marlborough SoundsThe Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels at the north of the South Island of New Zealand...
.
D'Urville IslandD'Urville Island is an island in the Marlborough Sounds along the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It was named after the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. With an area of approximately , it is the eighth-largest island of New Zealand....
sits to the northeast of Tasman Bay's easternmost point.
The land between these two extremes is more gently rolling, and also includes the coastal plains around the mouth of the
Waimea RiverThere are two Waimea River at opposite ends of New Zealand's South Island. Both are surrounded by fertile floodplains known locally as the Waimea Plains.*Waimea River, Southland*Waimea River, Tasman...
at the bay's southernmost point. Other rivers entering the sea along the coast of the bay include the
RiwakaThe Riwaka River is located in the northwest of New Zealand's South Island. It flows for 20 kilometres, entering Tasman Bay close to the town of Riwaka, 10 kilometres north of Motueka....
, the
MotuekaThe Motueka River lies in the north of the South Island of New Zealand. It rises 60 kilometres to the south of Nelson, and flows for 120 kilometres, first through rough hill country and then the more gently undulating terrain southwest of Tasman Bay. The river has its outflow into the bay close to...
and
Serpentine RiversThe Serpentine River is a minor river on the north western flanks of the Richmond Range in the South Island of New Zealand.It passes through a plantation forest near the town of Richmond before emptying into Tasman Bay....
. The long low form of
Rabbit IslandRabbit Island is the name of several different islands off the New Zealand coast.The largest and best-known Rabbit Island lies across the southernmost part of Tasman Bay, at the top of New Zealand's South Island...
is located close to the bay's south coast. Tasman Bay contains the rare rock formation known as the
Boulder BankThe Boulder Bank is a very unusual naturally formed land form in Nelson, New Zealand. It is a 13 kilometer long stretch of rocky substrate which begins at the Mackay Bluff and ends at the Cut of the Nelson Harbour. Haulashore Island was once apart of the Boulder Bank, but after the Cut being made...
.
The fertile land around the centre of the bay's coast is extensively cultivated with such crops as olives , grapes,
hopsHops are the female flower clusters, commonly called cones or strobiles, of the hop plant . The hop is part of the family Cannabaceae, which also includes the genus Cannabis . They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, though hops are also used for various purposes in other...
, and
fruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
.
TobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
used to be grown and there is a tobacco museum in
MotuekaThe town of Motueka in the South Island of New Zealand lies close to the mouth of the Motueka River, on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is, after Nelson and Richmond, the third largest centre in the region, with a permanent population of around 6000....
It is also the most densely populated part of the South Island's north coast, and several towns and the city of
NelsonThe city of Nelson is close to the centre of New Zealand. It lies at the shore of Tasman Bay, at the northern end of the South Island, and is the administrative centre of the Nelson region....
are all located close to the shore. These towns include
MotuekaThe town of Motueka in the South Island of New Zealand lies close to the mouth of the Motueka River, on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is, after Nelson and Richmond, the third largest centre in the region, with a permanent population of around 6000....
,
RiwakaRiwaka is a small town in the north of New Zealand's South Island. It lies beside Tasman Bay, five kilometres north of Motueka, and close to the mouth of the Riwaka River....
, and
RichmondRichmond, the seat of the Tasman District Council, lies 13km south of Nelson in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the southern extremity of Tasman Bay...
.