page_title: Taiari / Chalky Inlet
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Taiari / Chalky Inlet / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Great Island, Chalky Inlet, From the SouthEast
context_page_description: Taiari / Chalky Inlet is one of the southernmost fiords in Fiordland, in the southwestern corner of New Zealand's South Island and part of Fiordland National Park.
context_section_description: The geography of Taiari / Chalky Inlet is complex, as it is for the neighbouring fiord complexes of Tamatea / Dusky Sound to the north and Rakituma / Preservation Inlet to the south. There are two main entrances to the fiord from the Tasman Sea, separated by a string of islands – the Eastern Passage, which continues in a northerly direction into the main channel of Taiari / Chalky Inlet, and the Western Passage, which is connected to the eastern and main channel via a number of passages between islands. These include Bad Passage (separating Chalky Island and Motutawaki), Return Channel (separating Motutawaki and Great Island), and North Port (separating Great Island from the South Island mainland). 
  Islands of varying sizes are found in the sound, including those at the entrance, which separate the Eastern and Western passages. Chalky Island (or Te Kākahu-o-Tamatea, so named as it was said to be the location where the explorer Tamatea laid down his cloak, or kākahu, to dry) is the most seaward of these, with both the island and the sound owing their English names to the white cliffs found on the island's seaward southern edge. Further from the sea are the Passage Islands, the largest of which is known as Motutawaki, from the Māori words motu for 'island' and tawaki, referring generally to large penguins such as the Fiordland crested penguin. Further still from the mouth of the fiord is Great Island, or Ōteauau, the largest island in the complex at 7.36 square kilometres (2.84 sq mi). Great Island contains two small lakes – Lakes Dobson and Esau – and reaches a height of 185 metres (607 ft) above sea level. Although it is less than 300 metres (980 ft) from the South Island mainland, the island is free of possums and is the site of multiple pest control initiatives to prevent pests from accessing other islands via Great Island. Little Island sits in the narrow channel between Great Island and the South Island. Beyond this primary chain of islands, there is a small group of islands known as the Small Craft Harbour islands, located about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the fiord's mouth, near its divergence into two separate fiords. Closer to the mouth, the Garden islands are another small group, located on the eastern edge of the fiord, at the entrance to South Port.
  Approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the fiord's mouth, the fiord splits in two. Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound continues the roughly north–south orientation of the main length of Taiari, whilst Te Korowhakaunu / Cunaris Sound runs roughly perpendicular to this in an east–west orientation. The head between these two fiords, on the northern edge of Te Korowhakaunu and the eastern edge of Moana-whenua-pōuri, is known as Divide Head in English, and Te Tapuwae-o-Māui (the footstep of Māui) in Māori. This name, as well as others in the area (such as Te Rereka-o-Māui to describe the hills behind Divide Head), refers to the Māori creation myth for the fiord. In this, the demigod Māui is said to have leapt ashore at Te Tapuwae-o-Māui (representing his footprint, while Te Rereka-o-Māui is his leap), where he slipped over. In one account, his extended arms created both Te Korowhakaunu and Moana-whenua-pōuri, while in another Te Korowhakaunu already existed and the mud and water kicked up when Māui's foot slipped created Moana-whenua-pōuri.
caption: Great Island, near the entrance to Taiari / Chalky Inlet
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