Volume Three Appendix 1 2. D’Urville Island/Rangitoto Ki Te Tonga Including French Pass Perceptual - Attractive harbours with sheltered intimate bays and calm waters. Values Many visually interesting landforms such as D’Urville Peninsula and the waters at French - Pass. - Key views to narrow passage and currents at French Pass from Channel and Collinet Points. - Exposed and dramatic western coastline including long-distance seascape views to adjacent islands. - The waters of French Pass are visually dramatic due to their strong current movement. - The submerged ridge at French Pass forms a distinctive reef. - Minimal land and marine development with highly natural coastline. High experiential values associated with remoteness and lack of modification. Associative - French connection - named after French Admiral Dumont D’Urville who sailed the Values Astrola be through French Pass and just barely managed to get through. - Large proportion of DOC land. - Eco-tourism destination. - Historic developmen t of argillite quarries to extract argillite for cutting tools and the importance of that resource to local tribal identity. - Early copper mines. - Early Māori settlement a nd activiti es. - Early European whaling and farming activities. - Heritage New Zealand plaque commemorates Captain Cook’s last anchorage point in New Zealand in Whareata Bay. Overview Based on the above values, all of D’Urville Island / Rangitoto Ki Te Tonga including French Pass have been identified as ONFs within the Outer Sounds ONL due to their exceptional biophysical and associative landscape values and very high sensory landscape values. D’Urville Island (Rangitoto Ki Te Tonga) is the largest island in the Sounds and the eighth largest island in New Zealand. Situated at the northern extremity of the Sounds, it is separated from the mainland by French Pass. The submerged ridgeline under French Pass, a geopreservation site, causes unusually swift tidal currents that are highly legible and fascinating to watch. Other geopreservation sites identified on the Island include a cluster of argillite source sites. These have important archaeological values due to their potential to provide information about the extractive techniques used to obtain the stone material and to better understand New Zealand prehis tory and cultural change. T he location of argillite quarries appears in at least one legend that tells the story of the flight of Poutini (the taniwha of the god Ngahue) from Whatini. Each place of refuge identified in the story relates to a stone resource location including Tahanga, Mayor Island and D'Urville Island, thereby serving as a form of oral map of source sites. Considerable archaeological evidence and documentation remains to tell of the Island’s rich Māori and European history, including connections with two early European explorers, D’Urville and Cook. Although much of the Island was cleared by early European settlers, approximately a third of it remains in native bush today. Much of it is managed as conservation land and has significant ecological values, enjoyed by the Island’s few residents and its visitors, who are drawn to its remote and highly natural setting. Modifications include the following: Sounds Residential zoning at Kapowai Bay and Whareata Bay; buildings; access roads; power lines; jetties; forestry; and vegetation clearance. Moorings are scattered along the bays within the coastal area, there are marine farms within Catherine Cove and a lighthouse within Middle Bank Reef, French Pass. The French Pass settlement is excluded. App 1 - 3