36-608: The Karamea Bight is the name given to a large bay in the Tasman Sea formed by a curved stretch of the West Coast of New Zealand 's South Island . It stretches for 100 kilometres north from Cape Foulwind to just north of the mouth of the Heaphy River . 41°30′S 171°40′E / 41.500°S 171.667°E / -41.500; 171.667 This West Coast Region (New Zealand) geography article
72-696: A megalodon , an extinct shark, was also found by researchers. In 1876, the first telegraph cable connecting Australia and New Zealand was laid in the Tasman Sea. The telegraph cable was made obsolete in 1963 when the Commonwealth Pacific Cable , New Zealand's first international telephone cable, was completed. Moncrieff and Hood were the first to attempt a trans-Tasman crossing by plane in January 1928. The aviators were never seen or heard of again. The first successful flight over
108-584: A prominent cape Cape Maria van Diemen , after the wife of Anthony van Diemen , Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia ). These are the only two geographic features in New Zealand to retain the names given to them by Abel Tasman. Tasman noted a group of 30-35 inhabitants on the island when attempting to come ashore to replenish water supplies, and saw no trees on the island. Since Tasman's visit, several European ships sighted
144-619: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean , situated between Australia and New Zealand . It measures about 2,000 km (1,200 mi) across and about 2,800 km (1,700 mi) from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman , who in 1642 was the first known person to cross it. British explorer Lieutenant James Cook later extensively navigated
180-640: Is a reptile species only found on these islands. Many marine invertebrates found around the islands are also endemic, such as the molluscs Haliotis pirimoana (Manawatāwhi pāua) and Penion lineatus . There is considerable evidence that the Three Kings Islands have not been recently connected to the North Island landmass but have been connected to each other by land bridges. Genetic studies of different insect populations have suggested different separation times from similar species found in
216-789: Is diverted west in the Subtropical Front which collides with the western moving Subantarctic front of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current . The East Australian Current sheds eddies on its way south that move south-westward with some known as the Tasman Leakage making it as far westward as the Indian Ocean. A deep-sea research ship, the RV Tangaroa , explored the sea and found 500 species of fish and 1300 species of invertebrates. The tooth of
252-419: Is surrounded by 70-90m high cliffs. Māori stonework and terracing can be found on the island. Farmer Rocks, 0.8 km east of Manawatāwhi / Great Island, are 5 metres high and just a few hundred square metres in size. The second largest island of the group, at 0.38 square kilometres (0.15 sq mi) and a height of 207 metres (679 ft). It is about 4.5 km southwest of Great island. The island
288-418: Is surrounded by 80-120m high cliffs. The Princes Islands are seven small islets and numerous rocks with a total area of about 0.2 km , start 600 m west of South West Island and stretch about 1.8 km east–west. The north-eastern islet is the highest at 106 m. The smallest islet is Rosemary Rock . These islands are sparsely vegetated. The third largest island at 0.16 km , found 500m southwest of
324-489: Is the wreck of the Elingamite which foundered there on 9 November 1902. With an area of 4.04 square kilometres (1.56 sq mi), Manawatāwhi / Great Island is by far the largest island of the group. A northeastern peninsula , with an area of about 1 km , is almost cut off by a 200 m wide but more than 80 m high isthmus formed by North West Bay and South East Bay. The island reaches an elevation of 295 m in
360-701: The South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea converge. They measure 6.85 km (2.64 sq mi) in area. The islands are on a submarine plateau, the Three Kings Bank, and are separated from the New Zealand mainland by an 8 km wide, 200 to 300 m deep submarine trough. Therefore, despite relative proximity to the mainland, the islands are listed with the New Zealand Outlying Islands . The islands are an immediate part of New Zealand, but not part of any region or district , but instead Area Outside Territorial Authority , like all
396-690: The East Australian Current continues south in the western Tasman a branch flows east called the Tasman Front towards the north of New Zealand with most continuing eastward above New Zealand into the South Pacific Ocean. It transpires that while predominantly the location of westerly wind stress is a factor in how far north the formation of the Tasman Front occurs, so is the presence of the New Zealand land mass, as
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#1732787027051432-602: The New Zealand government in 1908 from seven Māori people, and declared an animal sanctuary in 1930. A population of goats (left on the Manawatāwhi Island in November 1889 as a food source for shipwrecked people) had run rampant, reaching numbers of 300-400 goats by 1900. This led Baden Powell of the Auckland War Memorial Museum , who visited in a group, to petition the government to deal with
468-472: The North Island varying from 24 million years ago to 2.24 million years ago. Further, some species of these islands that are within eyeshot of northern New Zealand have stronger genetic links to species now found in Australia or New Caledonia or no genetic links to present New Zealand species. These include the flax snail, Placostylus bollonsi Suter Three Kings Island is a nature reserve administered by
504-843: The Northeast From the South East Rock to the north point of Three Kings Islands ( 34°10′S 172°10′E / 34.167°S 172.167°E / -34.167; 172.167 ), thence to North Cape in New Zealand. On the East On the Southeast A line running from South West Cape , Stewart Island, through the Snares (48°S, 166°30'E) to North West Cape, Auckland Island ( 50°30′S 166°10′E / 50.500°S 166.167°E / -50.500; 166.167 ), through this island to its southern point. On
540-475: The South A line joining the southern point of Auckland Island ( 50°55′S 166°0′E / 50.917°S 166.000°E / -50.917; 166.000 ) to South East Cape, the southern point of Tasmania. The Tasman Sea's midocean ridge developed between 85 and 55 million years ago as Australia and Zealandia broke apart during the breakup of supercontinent Gondwana . It lies roughly midway between
576-591: The Tasman Sea in the 1770s during his three voyages of exploration. The Tasman Sea is informally referred to in both Australian and New Zealand English as the Ditch ; for example, " crossing the Ditch " means travelling to Australia from New Zealand, or vice versa. The diminutive term "the Ditch" used for the Tasman Sea is comparable to referring to the North Atlantic Ocean as "the Pond". The south of
612-527: The continental margins of Australia and Zealandia. Much of Zealandia is submerged, so the ridge runs much closer to the Australian coast than New Zealand's. The Tasman Sea features a number of midsea island groups, quite apart from coastal islands located near the Australian and New Zealand mainlands: The East Australian Current that commences its flow southwards in the tropics of the Coral Sea, near
648-494: The east coast to South East Cape , the southern point of Tasmania. On the North The parallel of 30°S from the Australian coast eastward as far as a line joining the east extremities of Elizabeth Reef and South East Rock ( 31°47′S 159°18′E / 31.783°S 159.300°E / -31.783; 159.300 ) then to the southward along this line to the South East Rock [an outlier of Lord Howe Island ]. On
684-465: The eastern coast of Australia is the most energetic circulation feature in the south western Pacific Ocean and is a primary means of heat transport from the tropics to the middle latitudes between Australia and New Zealand. The East Australian Current is a return of the westward-flowing Pacific Equatorial Current (Pacific South Equatorial Current ). At the juncture between the Tasman and Coral seas while
720-584: The fauna and flora of the Three Kings island group including the Three Kings Islands expedition 1970 . The Three Kings group falls into two subgroups with four main inhospitable islands and a number of smaller rocks on a submarine plateau called King Bank which rises out of extremely deep water. There are no beaches. The surrounding sea has very clear visibility and contains teeming fish life, attracting hundreds of divers. Another attraction
756-487: The goat population. In 1946 the goat population were shot and removed from the island, leading to the regeneration of forest on Manawatāwhi. However, 50 species described by Cheeseman in the 1880s have not been described again, and by the 1980s two plant species were only represented by one wild specimen. In 1956, the islands were declared a reserve for the preservation of flora and fauna. There have been several notable research expeditions that have concentrated on studying
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#1732787027051792-464: The group. Manawatāwhi was traditionally settled by Muriwhenua Māori . In Māori mythology , Ōhau (West Island) is the final glimpse of New Zealand seen by departing spirits, after leaving the world at Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua . Some Te Aupōuri traditions associate the name of the island, Manawatāwhi ("panting breath"), with the ancestor Rauru, who swam to the islands and arrived exhausted. Members of Ngāti Kurī would periodically come to
828-493: The island, such as French botanist Jacques Labillardière on board the Recherche in 1793. In the late 1700s, a party of mainland Te Aupōuri led by Taiakiaki travelled to the islands and killed the approximate 100 inhabitants, led by Toumaramara. Between 1800 and 1830 Te Aupōuri visited sporadically, however did not settle permanently. Tame Porena (also known as Tom Bowline) married Taiakiaki's granddaughter, and settled on
864-505: The islands as a refuge during times of warfare, and to harvest hāpuku , seabirds and eggs. `Most of the larger islands were inhabited, and the Great Island was cleared by Māori of vegetation to grow tuber crops such as kūmara . No defensive pā sites are found on the island, likely as the people who lived on Manawatāwhi did not feel threatened due to the islands' distance from the mainland. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman bestowed
900-483: The islands with his family of twelve children in the 1830s and 1840s, establishing large gardens, until starvation forced them to relocate to the mainland. Since then, nobody has settled on the islands permanently. Botanist Thomas Frederic Cheeseman visited the islands in 1887 and 1889, documenting the plant species present on the islands for the first time. Cheeseman noted that the Great Island had begun to reforest since Māori settlement. The islands were purchased by
936-516: The name Drie Koningen Eyland (Three Kings Island) on 6 January 1643, three weeks after he became the first European known to have seen New Zealand. Tasman anchored at the islands when searching for water. As it was the Twelfth Night feast of the Epiphany , the day the biblical three kings known as the wise men visited Christ the child, he named the main island accordingly. Tasman also named
972-559: The other outlying islands except the Solander Islands . During the Last Glacial Maximum when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, most offshore islands of New Zealand were connected to the mainland. Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, while connected to each other, were not connected to the rest of New Zealand. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, separating the individual islands in
1008-427: The sea is passed over by depressions going from west to east. The northern limit of these westerly winds is near to 40°S . During the southern winter, from April to October, the northern branch of these winds from the west changes its direction toward the north and goes up against trade winds . Hence, the sea receives frequent winds from the southwest during this period. In the Australian summer (from November to March),
1044-622: The sea was accomplished by Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm later that year. The first person to row solo across the sea was Colin Quincey in 1977. The next successful solo crossing was completed by his son, Shaun Quincey, in 2010. Three Kings Islands The Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands (Manawatāwhi is also the Māori name for the largest island) are a group of 13 uninhabited islands about 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua , New Zealand , where
1080-432: The southern branch of the trade winds goes up against west winds and produces further wind activity in the area. The Tasman Sea is 2,250 km (1,400 mi) wide and has an area of 2,300,000 km (890,000 sq mi). The maximum depth of the sea is 5,943 m (19,498 ft). The base of the sea is made up of globigerina ooze. A small zone of pteropod ooze is found to the south of New Caledonia and to
1116-730: The southern extent of 30°S , siliceous ooze can be found. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Tasman Sea as: On the West A line from Gabo Island (near Cape Howe , 37°30'S) to the northeast point of East Sister Island (148°E), thence along the 148th meridian to Flinders Island ; beyond this island a line running to the eastward of the Vansittart Shoals to [Cape] Barren Island , and from Cape Barren (the easternmost point of [Cape] Barren Island) to Eddystone Point (41°S) in Tasmania, thence along
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1152-777: The top of New Zealand defines the furtherest south that the Tasman Front can be split off by the westerly winds. A boundary current called the East Auckland Current goes down the west coast of the North Island and further south the East Cape Current, that has been diverted towards the South Island by the shapes of the Lord Howe Rise and southern east coast of the North island continues to the south. The East Australian Current south of Tasmania also
1188-431: The tree and down its roots into the sea bed. They are said to surface again on Ōhau and say a last farewell to New Zealand before going on to Hawaiki. The islands have a volcanic origin. In 1945, G. T. S. Baylis made a remarkable discovery on the Three Kings Islands, when he found the last remaining specimen anywhere of a tree which is now called Pennantia baylisiana , a kaikomako. It was recognised internationally as
1224-661: The western part, while the peninsula is up to 184 m high near its western cliffs. The southern portion consists of the Tasman Valley, a series of rolling hills that drain into the Tasman Stream. Most of the Māori archaeological features on the islands are found in this area. A smaller island about 0.10 square kilometres (0.039 sq mi) in size and reaching a height of 111 metres (364 ft), approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) northeast of Manawatāwhi. The island
1260-483: The westernmost of the Princes Islands. It is 177m high, surrounded by 40-130m high cliffs. The island plays an important part in the traditional Māori belief that the spirits of dead Māori return to their Pacific homeland of Hawaiki. Near Cape Reinga on the mainland, sometimes translated as the underworld, is a gnarled Pōhutukawa tree reputed to be more than 800 years old. The spirits are believed to journey to
1296-813: The world's rarest and thus most endangered tree. Extremely careful propagation in New Zealand has resulted in the species being reliably established, but it continues to be carefully monitored. The islands were made a wildlife sanctuary in 1995. Other plants endemic to the islands include Tecomanthe speciosa and Elingamita johnsonii . The Three Kings have extremely high levels of endemism , even compared to other isolated islands. About 35% of its beetle species are found nowhere else, and there are six endemic genera: Gourlayia ( Carabidae ), Heterodoxa and Pseudopisalia (both Staphylinidae ), Partystona and Zomedes (both Tenebrionidae ) and Tribasileus ( Anthribidae ). There are probably another seven undescribed endemic genera. Falla's skink ( Oligosoma fallai )
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