The Cape Foulwind Lighthouse is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

that is located at Cape Foulwind, west of the town of Westport on the West Coast of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. Perched above the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

, the light guides vessels along the Buller coast, and is one of the most accessible lighthouses in the country. The LED light flashes white once every 12 seconds and has a range . It is a Category 2 heritage listed structure.

History

The need for a lighthouse was identified during the goldrush era; however, it was not until 1 September 1876 that the light was first lit. The original hexagonal tower was built of

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

. It suffered from rot, and was replaced in 1926 by the present concrete tower with an automated light, which is now operated remotely from Maritime New Zealand's

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

office. Traces of foundations of the old tower and the keeper's houses can still be seen.

Access

The lighthouse is an drive west from the town of Westport and a ten-minute walk from the northern end of the Cape Foulwind walkway. The circular walkway goes past the lighthouse, and on to the

New Zealand Fur Seal ''Arctocephalus forsteri'' (common names include the Australasian fur seal, South Australian fur seal, New Zealand fur seal, Antipodean fur seal, or long-nosed fur seal) is a species of fur seal found mainly around southern Australia and New Z ...

colony at Tauranga Bay, with views back to the lighthouse. Entry into the lighthouse structure itself is not permitted.

Operations

The lighthouse is operated by the

Maritime New Zealand Maritime New Zealand (New Zealand Maritime Safety Authority) is a Crown entity and also a state maritime safety authority responsible for protecting the maritime transport sequence and marine environment within New Zealand and maintaining safet ...

, it is registered under the international Admiralty number K4486 and it has the NGA identifier of 111–5600. With a focal height of above sea level, the light can be seen for 10 nautical miles. Its characteristic is a white flash every twelve seconds, originally fitted with a

Fresnel Augustin-Jean Fresnel (10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Newton's corpuscular th ...

optic, it now uses an

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

system fixed to the gallery railing.

Gallery

File:Cape Foulwind old lighthouse info.JPG, Interpretive sign on the walkway File:Sunset - Cape Foulwind Lighthouse, New Zealand.jpg, Sunset over the lighthouse File:Steeple,_Cape_Foulwind,_between_1879_and_1929_(3057617388).jpg, Between 1879 and 1929

References

{{Authority control Lighthouses in New Zealand Lighthouses completed in 1876 Tourist attractions in the West Coast Region Westport, New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in the West Coast Region Transport buildings and structures in the West Coast Region