castle
Larnach Castle
1871 Gothic Revival mansion on the Otago Peninsula, New Zealand's only castle, with gardens and views over Otago Harbour.
5 km · about 10 min drive
OceaniaNew ZealandOtago
Sawyers Bay
Otago, New Zealand · Oceania
About Sawyers Bay
Sawyers Bay works well as a base: 10 minutes from Portobello, 6km from Baldwin Street.
Sawyers Bay is in Otago, New Zealand, with about 1,100 people. You drive on the left here. The nearest town is Portobello, about 5 km away.
Sawyers Bay is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) to the southwest of Port Chalmers in a wide valley on the shore of Mussel Bay, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) to the northeast of Dunedin city centre.
The suburb, on the western shore of Otago Harbour, lies between the two rockyRead more
headlands of Port Chalmers in the east and Roseneath in the west. The South Island Main Trunk rail line and State Highway 88 run along the shore of the bay.
The name of the suburb is indicative of the occupation of many of its early settlers; the Sawyers Bay area provided much of the timber used in the early construction industry around both Dunedin and Port Chalmers area. Little remains of Sawyers Bay's early industries; it is now largely a residential suburb.
Sawyers Bay's residential area is situated around one long street which runs inland from the bay itself. This street is called Station Road at its coastal end, and Hall Road further inland. At the coastal end, it connects with State Highway 88, the highway which runs along the west coast of Otago Harbour from Port Chalmers to Dunedin via Saint Leonards and Ravensbourne. Inland from here, roads branch off the main road – the most important of these is Stevenson Avenue, which connects with a back road to Port Chalmers (Borlases Road) in the east, and with Upper Junction Road in the west. Upper Junction Road, the winding old road to Port Chalmers from the Dunedin suburb of North East Valley, rises to join with the old Mount Cargill road, which was itself the former main road north out of Dunedin, linking the city's main urban area at Normanby with Waitati.
Other notable features of Sawyers Bay include the Port Chalmers Golf Course, located in the north of Sawyers Bay. A bush walk, Grahams Bush, links the end of Hall Road with the Mount Cargill road. Sawyers Bay's most prolific family is the McLachlan clan, whose tenement dates back to pre-European settlement. Its current population base is now comprised by residents reliant on the marine environment and a large contingent of Firefighters
Where to Stay in Sawyers Bay
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is there to see near Sawyers Bay?
Within an hour or so of Sawyers Bay: Larnach Castle (5 km), Baldwin Street (6 km), Sandfly Bay (10 km), Tunnel Beach (16 km).
Are there any good drives near Sawyers Bay?
The nearest famous roads are Baldwin Street.
Where is Sawyers Bay?
Sawyers Bay is in Otago, New Zealand, about 5 km from Portobello.
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Quick Information
- Population
- 1,095
- Continent
- Oceania
- Country
- New Zealand
- Region
- Otago
- Timezone
- Pacific/Auckland
- Coordinates
- -45.8184, 170.6001
Emergency & Services
Essential numbers in New Zealand
Many rural bridges are single-lane. Give way as signed.
Full driving guide for New ZealandTags
Worth the detour from Sawyers Bay
5 notable places within an hour's drive.
famous road
Baldwin Street
Dunedin's famously vertiginous suburban street, long certified by Guinness as the world's steepest at a 35% gradient: a quirky bucket-list detour for any South Island road trip.
6 km · about 10 min drive
beach
Sandfly Bay
A steep dune descent on the Otago Peninsula leads to a beach where New Zealand sea lions haul out and yellow-eyed penguins come ashore at dusk, watched from a DOC hide.
10 km · about 20 min drive
photogenic
Tunnel Beach
A hand-cut sandstone tunnel commissioned in the 1870s descends through the cliff to a hidden cove with a sea arch and stacks, south of Dunedin. A steep 20-minute walk down.
16 km · about 30 min drive
natural wonder
Moeraki Boulders
Mysteriously spherical septarian concretions scattered along a New Zealand beach, each up to two meters in diameter.
55 km · about 65 min drive
Driving roads near Sawyers Bay
- Right hereBaldwin StreetDunedin's famously vertiginous suburban street, long certified by Guinness as the world's steepest at a 35% gradient: a quirky bucket-list detour for any South Island road trip.
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