Hector and
Ngakawau are two lightly populated settlements located at the mouth of the
Ngakawau River in the
West Coast region of
New Zealand. Both settlements are situated on
State Highway 67 between
Westport and
Karamea. The 2001
New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings found that Hector and Ngakawau have a combined population of 300, a drop of 16% or 57 people since the 1996 census. This has dropped further in 2006 to 234 people. Despite a low population, many of the workers at New Zealand's largest open-cut coal mine at
Stockton choose to live at these places and shuttles frequently operate between the two places.