French Pass

Te Aumiti, French Pass, is the gap between D'Urville Island and the mainland, and it is one of the fastest tidal races in the country: the water on either side is at different heights for much of the cycle, and when it equalises it does so through a channel only about a hundred metres wide, running to eight knots with standing waves, whirlpools and overfalls. Dumont d'Urville took his ship through in 1827, struck the rocks and got away with it, which is how the pass got its European name. From the lookout on the cliff you can watch the whole thing from directly above, and the sound of it carries. Boats time their transits to slack water and the channel has a fearsome reputation among skippers. The road out is the other half of the story: about seventy kilometres of narrow, winding, largely unsealed road from Rai Valley, with drops and no barriers, taking well over two hours.

History

In Māori tradition Te Aumiti is the resting place of Te Kawau-a-Toru, the pet king shag of the navigator Kupe, which drowned in the tidal rip and became the reef beside the channel. Dumont d'Urville made the first recorded European passage in 1827 in the corvette Astrolabe, which struck rocks twice, and from 1888 to 1912 the Risso's dolphin Pelorus Jack escorted boats from the pass, the first dolphin in the world protected by law (Wikipedia, French Pass).

The landscape

• The tidal race - eight knots of water through a hundred-metre gap.
• The clifftop lookout - the whole channel from directly above.
• The whirlpools and overfalls - at full flow, mid-cycle.
• The road out - seventy kilometres of narrow unsealed Sounds road.

When to go

November to April. Time the visit to mid-tide for maximum flow - at slack water there is little to see. Allow well over two hours each way for the road.

What to expect

The drive is long, narrow, winding and largely unsealed, with steep drops - not for the nervous or for large vehicles. There is a tiny settlement with almost no services and no fuel. Swimming or boating in the pass without local knowledge is dangerous.

Nearby

D'Urville Island is across the channel; Rai Valley and Nelson are back on the main road.

Key facts