Oreti Beach, Invercargill tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 16:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Pacific/Auckland local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Sun 17 May (range 2.6m). Next neap on Fri 22 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Oreti Beach is 14 kilometres of straight, exposed surf beach on the Southland coast west of Invercargill, facing the approaches to Foveaux Strait. Mean tidal range is approximately 2.2 metres — enough to move the waterline across a wide, hard-packed low-tide flat. At low water, the flat is broad and firm. It was that combination of length, firmness, and near-total absence of obstacles that brought Burt Munro here. Munro, a Southland engineer and lifelong motorcyclist, spent decades modifying a 1920 Indian Scout in his Invercargill garage. He brought it to Oreti repeatedly for speed testing on the low-tide flat, eventually shipping it to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, where in 1967 he set a world record for under-1000cc motorcycles at 184.087 mph — a record that still stands. The 2005 film The World's Fastest Indian (Anthony Hopkins as Munro) recreated some of the Oreti preparation runs. The beach and its tidal flat were a testing ground that no constructed facility could have provided cheaply. Oreti is also one of the few New Zealand beaches where motor vehicles are permitted on the sand. The beach is used for four-wheel driving, horse riding, and — when conditions allow — kiteboarding in the onshore westerlies. Swimmers and waders use the sheltered section closest to the access point at New River Estuary; the open beach is exposed to Foveaux Strait weather and the water is cold year-round (12–15°C). The surf in southwesterly swells can be powerful on the outer sections. The New River Estuary at the northern end of the beach is a significant intertidal habitat. At low water the mudflats attract bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica), South Island oystercatchers, and other migratory wading birds. The estuary tidal exchange follows Oreti Beach's 2.2-metre range. Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a global gridded ocean model accurate to within approximately ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2–0.3 metres on height. For authoritative New Zealand tidal predictions, consult LINZ at linz.govt.nz.