NEW ZEALAND LIGHTHOUSES

Farewell Spit (1869)

Farewell Spit Lighthouse.

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mätauraga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Lighthouse at Farewell Spit and surrounding houses.

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mätauraga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Two trucks and the lighthouse, Farewell Spit.

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mätauraga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Farewell Spit juts 25 kilometres out into Golden Bay at the top of the South Island. The first lighthouse was built in 1869 and lit in June 1870 with the lantern room sitting on top of wooden stilts.

By 1891 it was found that the wood was decaying due to the weather and wind blown sand. So the wooden tower was replaced with a steel tower which was completed in January 1897.

In the early years the lighthouse site had no vegetation and sand blew into everything making it a constant job for the keepers to keep things clean. Near the turn of the century one keeper organized for small loads of soil to be delivered with the mail. He then planted a windbreak of Macrocarpa Pines which are still there to this day. The pines now protect the station from the shifting sands and provide a daylight landmark for passing ships.

The light was automated in 1984.

DIRECTIONS:

Public access to the lighthouse is restricted to organized tours.

Two tour operators will take you there:

Farewell Spit Nature Tours. Take you to both Piller Point and Farewell Spit lighthouses, as well as narrative and bird/nature watching. (The tour I took)     http://www.farewell-spit.co.nz 

The Original Farewell Spit Safari.

See reference page for more details.

Text and photographs. Copyright © 1999-2005 Mark Phillips. All rights reserved.