French Pass - Anaru

A tiny settlement at the end of the road on the western side of the Marlborough Sounds. Also the famous stretch of water that separates the mainland from D’Urville Island, which is an offshore conservation island. This fast moving piece of water can flow at up to 9 knots in a flood tide and the views are spectacular.

The lighthouse here (1881) is a vital piece of infrastructure that has been in place since 1884, most especially to reduce the risk for the night mail steamer between Wellington and Nelson, a stone beacon having served as a guide since 1860.

The 2½ hour drive out from Nelson is also a very worthwhile trip – long ranging views through the western sounds and along D’Urville Island, stunning little bays, long farming and fishing history. From French Pass one can take a cruise in a traditional sailboat.

Maori war parties were paddling their canoes through French Pass long before Europeans even hit these shores, and the warriors onboard had an intimate knowledge of the tides and the currents which allowed them to negotiate this fast-flowing stretch of water without too much effort. In the 1820s French explorer Dumont D’Urville was the first European to sail through the pass, tacking his tiny ship ‘Astrolabe’ tightly against the rocky reef as he negotiated these dangerous and, until then, uncharted waters.

Nowadays the French Pass waters are no less challenging, but high-powered boats make the passage a much easier one. The huge volumes of water that race through with each day’s tides create dangerous eddies and whirlpools that have caused the loss of a number of vessels over the years. Now small water taxis scurry across the waterway without a backward glance, heading to the bush-covered bays lining D’Urville Island’s treacherous coast. This area has a long history of farming and fishing. Settler families arrived throughout the mid 19th century to establish a thriving community providing fresh produce for the markets in Wellington and Nelson. A daily steamer service meant that the community was far less isolated than it is today, but with the demise of that service in the 1950s a strong push by locals finally saw the road pushed through from Okiwi Bay, closely followed by the luxury of mains power.

French Pass had joined the 20th century. Getting There Even now though, it is not an easy place to visit. The two hour drive from the main highway at Rai Valley is steep and winding, the last hour out to French Pass settlement still unsealed. But the rugged views of Croisilles Harbour, Pelorus Sound, Current Basin and D’Urville Island more than make up for that as the road climbs around steep ridges and high drop-offs.

Tiny groups of houses and holiday baches dot the indented coastline, isolated woolsheds sit on wind-torn hillsides and fishing boats and mussel barges churn through the seaway far below the road. But its isolation is a good thing really, because if French Pass was any closer to civilisation everyone would want to go there and it would be far too busy.

© Sue Farley 2005

Image Credits:Te Papa; The USS Mapourika negotiating the French Pass, 1904, French Pass, by Muir & Moodie studio. Birdseye view of the lighthouse. French Pass, circa 1919, New Zealand, by David James Aldersley