[6][7] One of the two candidates for the easternmost point in the South Island (along with Cape Campbell) lies at the entrance of Tory Channel.

The name Kura Te Au originates from the red colour of the sea caused by a variety of plankton and the high populations of crustacean krill.

"[10] According to Robert McNab's 1913 book 'The Old Whaling Days', which drew upon the knowledge of John Duncan, a resident of the Sound, to identify the locations visited by Stein in his 1832 voyage, this 'river' is now known as the Tory Channel.

[11] Energy Pacifica planned to install up to ten underwater tidal stream turbines, each able to produce up to 1.2 MW, near the Cook Strait entrance to Tory Channel.

They claimed Tory Channel had tidal flows of 3.6 metres per second (12 ft/s) with good bathymetry and access to the electricity network.

[12] Other designs envisaged up to 50 turbines, but there are uncertainties about flow rates, the area is about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the HVDC Inter-Island transmission station at Ōraumoa / Fighting Bay and a calculation in 2013 suggested that an economic return was unlikely.