Onetahua/Farewell Spit
New Zealand /
Tasman /
Takaka /
World
/ New Zealand
/ Tasman
/ Takaka
World / New Zealand / Nelson / Tasman
spit/sandspit, interesting place
Abel Tasman, the first European to see the spit, called it Sand Duining Hoeck.
Captain James Cook in 1770 named the nearby cape, "Cape Farewell" and early European settlers originally called the sandbanks 'Cape Farewell Spit'.
The lighthouse at the end of the spit was first lit in 1870. It was automated in 1984.
With open sea on one side and sheltered waters on the other, the massive sandspit Farewell Spit has two entirely different faces. Situated at the extreme northern tip of the South Island, Farewell Spit stretches more than 30 kilometres into the Tasman Sea and is an area of outstanding natural beauty. The Maori name for the spit is Onetahua, meaning 'heaped up sand'.
Farewell Spit has been a bird sanctuary since the 1930s and provides a home for over 90 bird species. Bar tailed godwits, knots, curlews, whimbrels and turnstones fly around 12,000 kilometres every northern hemisphere autumn to spend the summer here in the south. The spit also has a gannet colony.
To guide passing ships, Farewell Spit's first lighthouse was built in 1869. In the early years the lighthouse site had no vegetation and windblown sand was an ongoing problem for the keepers. Then one clever keeper organised for small loads of soil to be delivered with the mail. He planted a windbreak of macrocarpa pines which are still there to this day. The pines protect the station from the shifting sands and provide a daylight landmark for passing ships.
The best way to experience the spit is on a 4WD safari. You'll find tour operators in nearby Collingwood.
Captain James Cook in 1770 named the nearby cape, "Cape Farewell" and early European settlers originally called the sandbanks 'Cape Farewell Spit'.
The lighthouse at the end of the spit was first lit in 1870. It was automated in 1984.
With open sea on one side and sheltered waters on the other, the massive sandspit Farewell Spit has two entirely different faces. Situated at the extreme northern tip of the South Island, Farewell Spit stretches more than 30 kilometres into the Tasman Sea and is an area of outstanding natural beauty. The Maori name for the spit is Onetahua, meaning 'heaped up sand'.
Farewell Spit has been a bird sanctuary since the 1930s and provides a home for over 90 bird species. Bar tailed godwits, knots, curlews, whimbrels and turnstones fly around 12,000 kilometres every northern hemisphere autumn to spend the summer here in the south. The spit also has a gannet colony.
To guide passing ships, Farewell Spit's first lighthouse was built in 1869. In the early years the lighthouse site had no vegetation and windblown sand was an ongoing problem for the keepers. Then one clever keeper organised for small loads of soil to be delivered with the mail. He planted a windbreak of macrocarpa pines which are still there to this day. The pines protect the station from the shifting sands and provide a daylight landmark for passing ships.
The best way to experience the spit is on a 4WD safari. You'll find tour operators in nearby Collingwood.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_Spit
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 40°31'48"S 172°53'2"E
- Parihaka 159 km
- Waimangu Volcanic Valley 392 km
- Karekare Beach 418 km
- Duder Regional Park 447 km
- Hot Water Beach 480 km
- Tangowahine Kauri 541 km
- Scenic Reserve 594 km
- Whangaroa, Northland, New Zealand 615 km
- Whangaroa Harbour 619 km
- Great Island 714 km
- Golden Bay 14 km
- Cape Farewell 16 km
- Ruataniwha Inlet 23 km
- Parapara Inlet 27 km
- Whanganui Inlet 28 km
- Rangihaeata 32 km
- Abel Tasman National Park 40 km
- Lake Otuhie 43 km
- Big Bay 74 km
- Kahurangi Marine Reserve 85 km
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