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.

History

Jackson Bay and the mouth of the Arawhata River were home to a Māori settlement for hundreds of years, living from fish, seals and pounamu from the Red Hills, with about 300 people when John Boultbee visited in 1826. In 1842 the whaler Thomas Chaseland set up a shore whaling station here, in 1875 assisted immigrants from Poland, Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia, Germany and England arrived for a planned port called Arawata, and a wharf was finally built in 1938 (Wikipedia, Jackson Bay).

What you'll find

• 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.

Before you go

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-east; the Haast Pass road runs inland toward Wanaka.