Oreti
Oreti is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- -45.86°, 168.37°
About Oreti
The Ōreti River (formerly the Oreti River) is one of the main rivers of Southland, New Zealand, and is 170 kilometres (110 mi) long. The river has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because, for much of its length, it supports breeding colonies of black-billed gulls.
The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place of the snare" for Ōreti. In November 2019, the name of the river was officially altered to Ōreti River.
The Ōreti has its headwaters close to the Mavora Lakes between Lake Te Anau and Lake Wakatipu, and flows south across the Southland Plains to its outflow into Foveaux Strait at the southeastern end of Oreti Beach. En route, it runs through the towns of Lumsden and Winton, before passing through the city of Invercargill, close to the river's estuary.
For the final part of the river's length, around the city of Invercargill and the river's estuary just south of the city, it is locally known as the New River, a name occasionally encountered to refer to the whole river. It shares this estuary with several smaller rivers, most notably the Waihopai River.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Ōreti River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Oreti: Key Facts
| Length | 170 km |
|---|---|
| Mouth | Foveaux Strait |
Facts from Wikidata Q1520212 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Oreti: Quick Answers
- Where is Oreti?
- Oreti is located in New Zealand, at 45.8590° S, 168.3656° E.
- Are there dams on the Oreti?
- No dam on the Oreti is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.