The Rakaia mouth is normally about 3.5 klms further South than this point.
However persistent Southerly conditions keep the mouth moving North by
constantly building a bar that keeps being extended on the one side by the
river and on the other by the ocean. Only a large flood down the river will
burst the mouth directly out to the ocean leaving this channel as a lagoon.
Google Earth to 43°53'58.40"S, 172°12'52.49"E for a further look.