Jackson Bay

Jackson Bay is where the West Coast road stops. Beyond it is Fiordland, roadless for hundreds of kilometres, and the settlement itself is a wharf, a scatter of houses, a fishing fleet and the Cray Pot - a caravan on the waterfront selling crayfish, whitebait patties and fish and chips that has become the reason a good many people make the drive at all. The bay was the site of an 1875 government settlement scheme that placed immigrants from several European countries here with the promise of land; the rain, the sandflies and the absence of a road defeated it within a few years, and the ruins and the story are set out on interpretation panels. Two short walks run from the road end: the Wharekai Te Kou Walk to Ocean Beach in about half an hour, and the Smoothwater Bay track, longer and muddier. It rains here a great deal and the sandflies are severe.

What you actually see

• The road end - the last point before roadless Fiordland.
• The Cray Pot - the waterfront caravan most people drive out for.
• The 1875 settlement story - the scheme that failed within years.
• The short walks - Wharekai Te Kou to Ocean Beach and Smoothwater Bay.

When to go

October to April. The Cray Pot is seasonal and has limited hours - check before driving fifty kilometres for lunch. Whitebait season runs in spring.

Honest expectations

The caravan is seasonal and closes; arriving to a shut hatch is a common disappointment. Sandflies here are severe. It rains constantly. There is no fuel and almost no services.

Nearby

Haast is north; the Haast Pass road runs inland toward Wanaka.