Waihemo / Shag River

Shag Point / Matakaea is a headland and township in East Otago, New Zealand. Both the point and the nearby Shag River take their English name from a seabird, the pied shag. The township extends along a single road, which leaves State Highway 1 nine kilometres to the northeast of Palmerston, at the southern end of a long open bay known as Katiki Beach. The road links the highway with the point itself, three kilometres southeast of the junction. The point is a hilly promontory between Katiki Beach and the mouth of the Shag River. The headland is within the Matakaea Scenic Reserve, which is known for its population of New Zealand fur seals. A historic Māori site, the Matakaea/Shag Point Occupation Site, is located close to the headland. It is listed as a Category II site by Heritage New Zealand. Geologically, the area is an exemplar of the Katiki Formation, and the site of the discovery of the plesiosaur Kaiwhekea katiki. It is also the location of the oldest characterised ignimbrite deposit in the South Island at 112 million years ago.

The Katiki Formation is a Late Cretaceous (Campanian to Maastrichtian, or Haumurian in the regional stratigraphy) geologic formation of the South Island of New Zealand. Plesiosaur remains of Kaiwhekea katiki, named after the formation, are among the fossils that have been recovered from the deltaic siltstones.

Puketapu is a prominent hill in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island, overlooking the town of Palmerston. The name Puketapu is Māori meaning "sacred hill". There is a memorial cairn to the 19th century Otago politician Sir John McKenzie. The cairn erected in 1929 by Sir Joseph Ward, replaced an earlier cairn on the nearby hill of Pukehiwitahi, which was erected in 1902, but quickly fell into disrepair. An annual race held in October each year is run from Palmerston railway station to the summit of Puketapu and back, which is called "Kelly's canter", dedicated to Albert Kelly who ran up Puketapu as a constable in the Palmerston police force every day during World War II to look out for enemy ships.

East Otago High School is a secondary school in Palmerston, Otago, New Zealand. The school hosted a cultural exchange with Japanese pupils from Nichidai Third Junior High School between 2005 and 2008. They won the 2009 Otago Daily Times Extra spelling Quiz for Year 9 and 10.

Palmerston is a town in the South Island of New Zealand. Located 50 kilometres to the north of the city of Dunedin, it is the largest town in the Waihemo Ward of the Waitaki District, with a population of 890 residents. Palmerston grew at a major road junction: State Highway 1 links Dunedin and Waikouaiti to the south with Oamaru and Christchurch to the north, while State Highway 85 (known colloquially as "The Pigroot") heads inland to become the principal highway of the Maniototo. The Main South Line railway passes through the town and the Seasider tourist train travels from Dunedin to Palmerston and back once or twice a week. From 1880 until 1989, the town acted as the junction between the main line and a branch line that ran inland, the Dunback and Makareao Branches. Palmerston stands near the banks of the Waihemo / Shag River, five kilometres inland from the Pacific coast. Between it and the sea stands the lone hill of Puketapu (Māori for sacred hill, known by Southerners as Holy Hill), crowned with a monument to the 19th century Otago politician Sir John McKenzie. An annual race takes place up to the memorial and back, which is called the Kelly's canter, dedicated to Albert Kelly who ran up Puketapu as a constable in the Palmerston police force every day during World War II. This cairn is the second around Palmerston dedicated to MacKenzie – an earlier cairn was built on a hill to the north of the town, near Shag Point, but collapsed owing to the unstable geology of the site. Many people confuse the town of Palmerston with the much more populous North Island city of Palmerston North, whose residents often call their home simply "Palmerston". Otago's town has the earlier claim to the name, however – its surveying dates from 1862, whereas the northern city did not receive its name until 1871. Both towns take their names from Lord Palmerston, the 19th-century British Prime Minister. The nearby Shag River is named for the cormorant, a sea bird that ventures a little inland, colloquially known as a 'shag'. The river's Māori name, 'Waihemo', has been translated as 'Dwindle River'. It is thought to arise from the river's tendency to reduce in summer to a small stream. Palmerston used to be the capital of the Waihemo County, the surrounding district, before it was amalgamated with the Waitaki District in 1989.

The Pleasant River is in the Otago region of New Zealand. It rises in hilly forested country near Mount Trotter, west of Palmerston, fed by many small streams. After flowing generally eastward, the river turns south about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of Palmerston, passes the settlement of Wairunga, and enters the sea via an estuary midway between Shag Point and Waikouaiti. The mouth of the Pleasant River forms the administrative border between the Waitaki District and Dunedin City.

Wairunga is a locality in Otago, New Zealand. It is located on SH1 to the south of Palmerston. The Pleasant River flows immediately to the west of Wairunga. The locality's name is a Māori term literally meaning "water above" and translating as "stream flowing down from the mountains".

Tumai is a rural locality in East Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1 between Waikouaiti and Palmerston, and close to the South Island Main Trunk railway, although trains no longer stop at Tumai. It is close to the northernmost coastal part of Dunedin city. A small creek runs close to Tumai, flowing north into the estuary of the Pleasant River. There is evidence of Maori settlement in the area dating to at least the 15th century AD, notably the midden from a small settlement close to the southern edge of the Pleasant River estuary. The site was extensively excavated in 1976, and has a Heritage New Zealand Category II historic place classification.

Glenpark is a lightly populated rural locality in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It is northwest of Palmerston and is on the banks of the Shag River. To the west is the locality of Stoneburn.

Huriawa, commonly known as Huriawa Peninsula or Karitane Peninsula, is a headland on the coast of Otago, New Zealand. It is located 35 kilometres north of Dunedin city centre, immediately to the southeast of the settlement of Karitane. The peninsula is steep and rocky, and stretches east for approximately 1000 metres from the mainland at the mouth of the Waikouaiti River. At its narrowest, the isthmus connecting it with Karitane is only some 90 metres in width. The name huriawa is a Māori term meaning "turning river"; the Waikouaiti River, which now flows to the sea to the north of the peninsula, formerly entered the sea to the peninsula's south. The southern, ocean coast of the peninsula is lined with sheer cliffs, and includes several rock pinnacles and blowholes. The northern, estuary coast is less rugged, but still steep. The opposite bank of the river is the large sandspit which forms the southern end of Waikouaiti Beach. The isthmus is the site of Karitane cemetery, and of a memorial marking the location of the first Christian sermon given in Otago, by Rev. James Watkin on 17 May 1840. The western end of the peninsula is dotted with a handful of houses and other buildings, the most notable of which is Sir Truby King's historic Kingscliff House. The remaining four fifths of the peninsula is designated as a historic reserve.

The Waikouaiti River is found to the north of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand. It flows to the Pacific Ocean at Karitane, close to the town of Waikouaiti. The Waikouaiti River is the largest in East Otago.

The small town of Karitane is located within the limits of the city of Dunedin in New Zealand, 35 kilometres to the north of the city centre. Set in rolling country near the mouth of the Waikouaiti River, the town is a popular holiday retreat for Dunedinites.