Last updated October 2026
Harington Point is a small settlement at the northeastern end of the Otago Peninsula, inside Dunedin City, where Otago Harbour narrows toward the open sea. Houses and holiday cribs line Harington Point Road and sit above Te Rauone Beach, with Taiaroa Head and its albatross colony just beyond the last bends of the road.
The name is often misspelled Harrington; the official spelling has a single r, after Thomas Cudbert Harington, the first secretary of the New Zealand Company. This is a quiet residential and crib community, not a township, so everyday shops and services are back along the peninsula rather than on the doorstep.
People come for the harbour-mouth light, the restored beach, and wildlife sites that start almost at the edge of the houses. Anyone staying here needs to plan around a single coastal road that can be narrow, low-lying and slow.
Practical Information
- Ward or local board
- Otago Peninsula Community Board
- Getting there
- Sealed access via Portobello Road and Harington Point Road. Orbus route 18 runs along the peninsula; only some trips continue past Portobello to Harington Point. Check the current timetable before travelling.
- Nearby landmarks
- Te Rauone Beach; Wellers Rock (Te Umukuri); Taiaroa Head (Pukekura) and the Royal Albatross Centre; Pilot’s Beach (Takiharuru)
About Harington Point
The settlement is lived in and open to through-traffic, but access depends on one road. Harington Point Road is the only way in from Portobello and Ōtākou.
Stretches near Ōtākou are narrow and low, and council and community-board papers record flooding and undermining in high tides and storms. That can cut the road to homes, the marae and businesses further out. Dunedin City Council planning also flags this coastal road as increasingly exposed to inundation as seas rise.
The harbour entrance is at its narrowest here, with only about 400 metres of water between the point and the mudflats at Aramoana on the opposite shore. The settlement sits on that harbour edge, between the older kāinga of Ōtākou and the headland of Taiaroa Head.
Much of the surrounding land lies in the Ōtākou Native Reserve wāhi tūpuna. Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, of Kāi Tahu, is the mana whenua body for this end of the peninsula. In the 1844 Otago Purchase, Kāi Tahu kept the northern peninsula, including villages and urupā, rather than sell it with the rest of the block.
The English name comes from Thomas Cudbert Harington of the New Zealand Company, not from a local family. Long before that, Pukekura pā stood on Taiaroa Head, and tradition places villages along Te Rauone Beach.
European shore whaling arrived in the 1830s. The Weller brothers ran stations in the harbour, including at Ōtākou and Te Rauone, and their Ōtākou station was among the largest in the country before whale numbers collapsed.
Wellers Rock, officially spelled without an apostrophe and also known as Te Umukuri, sits on the road between Harington Point and Ōtākou. An archaeological excavation of try-works there was carried out by the University of Otago in 1991.
In 2020 Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, Dunedin City Council and the Department of Conservation joined a project to protect the site from further wear.
Today the place is a scatter of permanent homes and cribs, with holiday accommodation rather than a town centre. There is no general store or school in the settlement. The Ōtākou golf course occupies land on Ōtākou Golf Course Road within the Harington Point area, beside dune and wetland country that the district plan treats as significant habitat.
Council strategy papers record mana whenua and community interest in reticulated drinking water and wastewater between Portobello and Harington Point, which is a signal that those services are not in place in the way they are closer to the city. A servicing assessment for Harington Point is listed among planned water works.
Getting Around
The drive from central Dunedin follows the harbourside road through the peninsula townships, then Harington Point Road past Ōtākou. It is sealed all the way, but it is not a fast road, and stop-go traffic is common when roadworks are under way. Orbus route 18 is the public bus.
Services are relatively frequent as far as Portobello. Beyond that they thin out: Dunedin City Council’s future development strategy records four buses a day to and from Harington Point, and later community-board discussion has focused on how early the morning trip reaches town. Times change, so use the Orbus timetable rather than a remembered departure.
The Peninsula Connection project is widening and raising Portobello and Harington Point Roads and building the shared walking and cycling path known as Te Aka Ōtākou. The route is planned from the Vauxhall Yacht Club to the entrance to Taiaroa Head.
A continuous shared path is in place between the city and Portobello. Dunedin City Council states that work beyond Portobello remains part of the project but is unfunded at present, so do not assume a harbourside cycleway continues all the way to the settlement.
Te Rauone Beach and the Harbour Edge
Te Rauone Beach is the settlement’s foreshore. Dunes here had eroded badly. Port Otago and the Te Rauone Beach Coast Care Committee worked for years on a restoration: rock groynes to hold a recreational beach, and sand placed back on the shore.
Consent was granted after a strongly supported hearing, and Dunedin City Council has upgraded the reserve alongside that coastal work. Sand replenishment has continued as a maintenance task. A whale-tail sculpture, Toru, was set on the beach in 2023 as a marker of the harbour’s whaling history and of southern right whales, tohorā, seen again in these waters.
This page is about the settlement, not a swimming or wildlife guide. There is no published swim-status note to quote here, so treat the beach as a local foreshore rather than a patrolled city beach.
Little blue penguins come ashore at dusk at Pilot’s Beach, a short distance toward Taiaroa Head, and northern royal albatross breed at Pukekura / Taiaroa Head, the only mainland colony of that species.
Yellow-eyed penguins are the focus of tours on the ocean side of the hills. Follow on-site signs and tour rules; do not approach birds on the beach or at nest sites.
History and Heritage
The hills behind the settlement hold historic gun emplacements, with a communications tunnel and bunker, tied to the coastal defences that also include the fort at Taiaroa Head.
Some of the headland’s older pā terraces were later built over by European defence works. The emplacements are a reminder that this narrow harbour mouth has always been a strategic place, from Pukekura pā to the military use of Taiaroa Head.
Wellers Rock remains the clearest European historic site on this stretch of road. Whale bone has been recorded near the rock, and the site is archaeologically sensitive. It is also a working wharf for wildlife cruises into the harbour entrance.
The Harington Point Community Society is the local residents’ group; community-board records show it has sought practical improvements such as static water storage for firefighting near the beach, another sign of a small settlement looking after its own edge.
Where to Learn More
Dunedin City Council: Peninsula Connection: Official account of the harbourside road and shared-path project from Vauxhall toward Taiaroa Head, including what is funded beyond Portobello.
Port Otago: Te Rauone Beach restoration: How the groynes and sand renourishment for Te Rauone Beach were consented with the local coast care committee.
Otago Regional Council: Dunedin bus timetables: Current Orbus timetables, including route 18 toward Harington Point.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Harington Point part of Dunedin?
Yes. It is a locality inside the Dunedin City Council area, at the outer end of the Otago Peninsula.
How do you spell Harington Point?
Harington, with one r. Harrington is a common misspelling and sometimes appears on older signs and bus listings.
How do you get there?
Drive Portobello Road, then Harington Point Road. The road is sealed, but it is narrow and low-lying in places near Ōtākou and can be affected by high tides, storms and roadworks.
Is there a bus?
Orbus route 18 serves the peninsula. Only some trips continue past Portobello to Harington Point, so check the Orbus timetable on the day you travel.
Are there shops or a school in the settlement?
No. There is no general store or school in Harington Point itself. Portobello, back along the peninsula road, is the nearest township for everyday shops.
Can you visit the albatross colony from here?
Taiaroa Head and the Royal Albatross Centre are a short drive beyond the settlement on the same road. Colony visits are managed by the centre; it is not an open walk-up nesting site.
What is Wellers Rock?
Wellers Rock, also known as Te Umukuri, lies on the road between Harington Point and Ōtākou. It marks the Weller brothers’ shore-whaling station and is a departure point for wildlife cruises. The site is archaeologically sensitive.
Is Te Rauone Beach a patrolled swimming beach?
No patrol status is published for it here. It is a restored local foreshore, with sand held by rock groynes and a council reserve, used by residents and visitors. Check conditions on the day, especially after storms.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.