Access

Getting to French Pass is part of the experience here. 800 metres north of Rai valley on SH6, turn into Opouri Road, signposted Okiwi Bay and French Pass. 600 metres on keep left and Okiwi Bay is 23 km. After 39 km the seal ends and French Pass is signposted to the left. After 48 km, just after the cattle stop the fun really starts.

Don’t look left if you have vertigo. The road descends, entering French Pass Scenic Reserve after a cattle stop. 200 metres further on the left is a small parking bay with the signposted start of the track. The road continues a further 1 km to the settlement with shop and DoC campground.

Track

After 3 minutes the track branches. Right continues the narrow zigzag through forest to a lookout over the pass. You can see the swirling waters and beacon. An information panel relives the day D’Urville navigated the channel.

Left is a slightly steeper path to a narrow soft shingle beach.

Geology

The currents swirling through French Pass travel at 5-7 knots. The uneven sea bed and meeting of the Current Basin and Admiralty Bay waters forms eddies and whirlpools. At change in tide this can catch the fish unawares and they float to the surface.

Fauna

From 1888-1912 one of New Zealand’s most famous dolphins, Pelorus Jack, met all vessels who passed by the area at day and night. He was immortalised in a poem by Dennis Glover.

Polynesian History

Once Kupe had finished wrestling his octopus he was tired and weary. He sent his pet pigeon Rupe into the forest in search of sustenance and Te-Kawau-a-Toru, his trusty shag to learn the ways of the sea currents. Te-Kawau-a-Toru plummeted to his death in the frothing waters between Rangitoto Island (D’Urville Island) and the mainland.

European History

D’Urville Island is named after Admiral Dumont d’Urville. In 1825 the French Government promoted him to Commander, giving him charge of La Coquille, later renamed Astrolabe. His mission was to explore the south seas and find out what happened to the ill-fated 1788 voyage of La Perouse. Late in 1826 he sighted New Zealand and in early 1827 he surveyed the French Pass area. On January 24th a tidal rip arose ‘like a seething sheet and water rushed into the basin (Current Basin) and formed whirlpools of incredible violence.’ After successfully navigating the channel it became known as ‘Passe de Francais’, later translated to French Pass.

This was the preferred shipping route from Wellington to Nelson as it obviated the need for rounding D’Urville Island. Navigation of this treacherous channel has always been a bain, so from 1854 a rudimentary signal known as an ‘iron perch’ was erected by Bryon Drury of HMS Pandora. In 1881 this was replaced by a beacon, erected by Marine Department engineer Mr Thomspson and Wallace Webber, a local farmer. This was destroyed around a year later in a collision with SS Grafton. In 1883 a new beacon was set up by Captain Fairchild of SS Stella. This lasted 24 years.

In 1883-4 the New Zealand Marine Department constructed a lighthouse on the mainland. This was officially lit on 1st October 1884. The beacon light continued to be nurtured by Wallace Webber who rowed out at slack tide, cleaned the seagull scats, and refilled the light with oil. Sometimes if the light on the beacon was extinguished, Webber would row across at night. A new beacon was finally installed in 1907, replaced by an automated light in 1927. The lighthouse was automated in 1952.

Stephens Island was named by Cook in 1770. The Maori name was Takapourewa.

A road was approved from Croisilles by the French Pass Road Board in 1953 for a tender of £2,797 by Bryant Brothers of Pelorus Valley. It was completed in July 1957 with a bulldozer driving through the ribbon at the opening ceremony.