Haast Pass to the West Coast & Jackson Bay
Tuesday 22 September
An early misty morning at Cameron Flat soon burned through to be a glorious day in the Haast Pass. Lilac mists as the dawn light crept over Banjo at 6.30am giving way to cloudy grey and then blue light flooding the valley.
We packed up Banjo in glorious sunshine at around 10ish and hit the road through the pass, following in yesterday’s tyreprints.
First stop was Wilson’s Creek chasm again - glowing in the midmorning sun. Sadly this small amount of sunshine had no affect on the water temperature - it was still ridiculously close to freezing. Louis waded upstream in his shorts and sandals but it soon got too deep, and anyway, his legs & feet had almost frozen solid 🥶.
Louis also waded over to the other side of the creek to check the view from there… cue more freezing limbs and a spot of swearing! He dipped his watch under the water to get an accurate temperature reading, but it only got down to 6*C which seemed a little higher than we thought.
We thought about wading up into the heart of the chasm but the water was close to freezing and flowing about thigh deep so we abandoned that plan for a summer day!
I climbed down the far bank and found a rock cairn which I topped off with a sparkly quartz/serpentine topper and checked out the flora - Southern Beech seedlings and a springy silvery lichen growing around the chasm’s rocky walls.
Drove on through the pass to Haast, following the course of the river through the valley, crossing through the Gates of Haast (where our brakes got a wee bit smokey for a mo) and at Haast we used the dump station & filled up with diesel, before hanging a left and heading south along the coast to Jackson’s Bay (it was quite a bumpy road!).
We’d been told about an awesome freedom camp there by several people and found it on Wikicamp. Parked up by the beach at the end of the road and had a bite of lunch inside Banjo as it rained outside. Later we wandered out to explore the township - fortunately taking our rain jackets as the heavens opened while we were out by the pier, creating a glorious double rainbow across the bay. 🌈 The beach in front of us was rocky and bumpy, with a headland to our left. I found a beautiful aurora green lipped mussel which was huge - almost as big as my palm.
To our right a sacred spot - Jackson Bay was first settled in around 1842, these unmarked and marked graves belonged to early settlers of the remote area.
There's a great DOC shelter right by the end of the iconic jetty which we sheltered in, reading the many helpful information boards while the clouds burst; then we walked out along the working jetty, into the eye of the rainstorm! Amazing rainbow crossing the bay - it even seemed to cut through the sea water. Out on the pier, looking north the sea was fascinating - see the line across the waters? One side was green and one side Banjo teal - but the waters met along a long straight line and the surface tension of the water varied on either side!
Along the shoreline, you could not miss the very vibrant Craypot (which was sadly closed on a Tuesday)! Probably not a bad thing - Blue cod & chips was over $40 which is a little out of our budget!
Chatted to a lovely fellow camper & birdwatcher, Sean, who was excited to watch a fishing boat come in early evening, followed by a cortège of seabirds - terns, shearwaters, petrels & even an albatross.
The evening light was so beautiful as I took a Fitbit walk out along the road & back, then out along the jetty & back. We watched a fishing boat approach from the horizon with bright lights shining across the waters; we thought it would come in & land a catch of crays or lobsters, but it anchored up a couple of hundred of metres out from the jetty.
Early evening we picked up a message from a follower advising that where we were staying was no longer a freedom camp, and after hours of googling we didn’t get a definitive answer but it seems that Westland District Council is in the process of disestablishing the freedom camp as the township is really too small to support an influx of overnight visitors. It was too late for us to leave but we packed up ready to pull out in the morning. It’s a shame, as Jackson Bay is a lovely spot, but I guess it’s day visits only from now onwards. *
Had an early dinner (reheated leftovers), waded through more Marlow Murder Club nonsense, and popped our heads out the door at intervals to see if we could spot any yellow crested Fiordland penguins, tawaki, but sadly no sign of them.
* To Freedom Camp or not to Freedom Camp at Jackson Bay became a subject of great debate online over the next few days and we are still none the wiser if I am honest! Check out the reel that Louis put up and the responses below it from assorted interested parties.
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