Okains Bay

Okains Bay is a settlement, beach and bay on the Banks Peninsula in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located approximately from the main town on the Banks Peninsula, Akaroa. It is 86km (90 minutes drive) from Christchurch. The sandy beach is popular with tourists and has a river estuary emptying into the bay. The settlement itself contains the Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum. There is a camp ground on the beach near the estuary. The beach is often deserted and there is a large cave to explore at one end. Māori settlement Okains Bay is known as Kawatea in Māori. It is important to the Ngāi Tahu because a rangatira or chief called Moki established his Pa or settlement here when Ngāi Tahu migrated to Canterbury. Okains Bay has been recognized as the first landing place of Ngāi Tahu on Banks Peninsula. Carbon dating of artefacts suggest that Maori were present in Okains bay in the 1300s. European settlement Okains Bay gained its European name from Captain Hamilton, who, when was sailing past, was reading a book written by Okain (O'Kane), an Irish naturalist. It was first settled by Europeans around 1850. By September 1850 the first sections of land were sold by the Canterbury Association to the first European settlers. Due to the lack of roads, transport was to and from Lyttelton (21 miles away) by a steamer, which stopped along the way at Little Akaloa.