Cook Strait Article Index for
Cook 		Articles about
Cook Strait 		Website Links For
Cook 		 

Information About

Cook Strait
  CATEGORIES ABOUT COOK STRAIT
   
straits of new zealand
   
marlborough, new zealand
   
wellington region
   
SHOPPER'S DELIGHT
 
Shop For:  
Department
Price Minimum:
Price Maximum:
      



'' in the Marlborough Sounds.]]

Cook Strait (often referred to as "The Cook Strait"), the Strait between the North Island and the South Island of New Zealand , takes its name from Captain James Cook , the first European commander to sail through it (January - February 1770). On the north side of the strait lies the harbour of Wellington . On the south side we find the Marlborough Sounds and Cloudy Bay .

The two large bays, Golden Bay and Tasman Bay , lie on the South Island coast immediately to the west of the strait, and the North Island coast to the west recedes towards the giant curve of the Kapiti Coast and South Taranaki Bight . To the east of the strait, the South Island recedes, the coast running south-west after reaching the headland of Cape Campbell . The North Island's short south coast stretches along Palliser Bay , terminating at Cape Palliser . The Wellington suburbs of Owhiro Bay , Island Bay , Houghton Bay , Lyall Bay , Rongotai , Moa Point and Breaker Bay face the Cook Strait coast.

One can clearly see each island from the other in good weather. At its narrowest point the Strait has a width of 23 km (between Cape Terawhiti in the North Island and Perano Head on Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds ). Counter-intuitively, at this point the South Island's coast lies further north than that of the North Island.

Regular Ferry services run between Picton in the Sounds and Wellington . The Strait often experiences rough water and heavy swells due to strong winds, especially from the south. But New Zealand's geographical position directly athwart the Roaring Forties also means that the gap between the North and South Islands funnels westerly winds into itself and deflects them into northerlies. A Tunnel has been proposed.

The Strait has an average depth of 128 metres.


EUROPEAN HISTORY

When Dutch explorer Abel Tasman first saw New Zealand in 1642, he mistakenly interpreted the Cook Strait area as a bight closed to the east. He named it ''Zeehaen's Bight'', after one of the two ships in his expedition. James Cook discovered that the strait formed a navigable waterway in 1769 .

Cook Strait attracted European settlers in the early 19th century. Because of its use as a to Cape Campbell , so these early towns all clustered around "Cook Strait" as the central feature and central waterway of the new colony.