Rai Valley

History

The Valley was one of the last areas explored by Europeans in northern Marlborough. John Tinline discovered it while looking for a route to Nelson in January 1850. The Rai Valley was densely forested in the 19th century. A township grew up at Carluke, just to the west of Rai Valley locality, around a sawmill built by William Brownlee in 1907. About 100 people worked at the mill, and a light railway connected it to a port on the Pelorus River. Returned servicemen took up many local farms in 1919.

Most-observed species

• Traveller's-joy

  Clematis vitalba L. · Magnoliopsida
  2,357
• New Zealand Bellbird

  Anthornis melanura (Sparrman, 1786) · Aves
  2,088
• Silver-eye

  Zosterops lateralis (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,054
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,965
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,959
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,789
• New Zealand Fantail

  Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sparrman, 1787) · Aves
  1,734
• Tui

  Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae (J.F.Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,594

Most recent

• M 4.5 — 2026-06-16
  32 km W of Titahi Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.2 — 2026-06-12
  27 km E of Marybank, New Zealand
• M 4.2 — 2026-06-12
  12 km NNW of Renwick, New Zealand
• M 4.5 — 2026-06-02
  28 km W of Titahi Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.5 — 2026-05-29
  46 km ESE of Witherlea, New Zealand
• M 4.3 — 2026-05-16
  36 km SE of Witherlea, New Zealand