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Farewell Spit

Farewell Spit - click for more.
With open sea on one side and sheltered waters on the other, the massive sandspit Farewell Spit has two entirely different faces
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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.
 


 
NELSON Region


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Phone:
 +64
Contact: Golden Bay i-SITE Visitor Centre
Phone: +64 3 5259 136
Fax: +64 3 5259 288
Postal: Willow Street Takaka
Website: www.nelsonnz.com

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Collingwood is the closest town to this highlight.

In Collingwood:

Other towns near Collingwood by road:

Other towns near Collingwood by rail:

Collingwood does not have any rail stations.

Other towns near Collingwood by air:

Collingwood does not have scheduled passenger air services.

The nearest airport is in Takaka (23 minutes)

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