Safari: Lighthouses
We'll lighten up your day!

A local lighthouse ‘boffin’ pointed out to us recently that on our safari, it is possible to see 4 lighthouses from one single vantage point on the tour, including the oldest lighthouse in New Zealand.  He considers this to be unique in New Zealand.  The famous ‘Leaning Lighthouse’ is a main drawcard on a Seal Coast Safari, and we approach as near to it as it is possible to get, traversing land that is not open to the general public.

The lighthouse was constructed 100 years ago, in 1912.  It took three years to build on account of the remoteness from civilisation and the inhospitable environment.  It is actually constructed on a rock in the sea.  The workers had to mix cement onshore, and then row with the cement out to the rock to form the base and then construct the 63 foot high lighthouse.

Why is the lighthouse leaning?  As a joke we say it was built by an Italian architect.  In reality, no-one knows for sure.  One engineer on the safari considered that if the workers rowed out to the structure with cement in their boat, they would make sure the cement would not set on the way out by making it a ‘sloppy’ mix.  He suggested that if you construct a tower with a ‘sloppy’ mix, you may well get a little lean associated with the structure!  Someone else suggested that the winds are so prevalent out there that the plumb-bob wasn’t working!