Northland Lighthouses

While walking along the coast last week, I occasionally got the feeling that I was actually walking along the coast of some little town in Maine. 

I think it was the lighthouses that threw me off. I've only ever seen Maine lighthouses before I came to New Zealand. I guess all lighthouses probably look similar. The original lighthouses in New Zealand seemed pretty standard with your white base, glass cage and domed roof. 

Unfortunately, in New Zealand, most of the original lighthouses have been replaced with new squatty looking, fiberglass "lightstumps" as I like to call them. They are ten feet tall and have a little electronic light that is controlled by some computer in Wellington (which is a long ways away). You could easily climb on top of a "lightstump" but they are so dull and disappointing that it doesn't even seem worth it to climb up the thing. 

This photo show a young lightstump sitting next to a full-grown lighthouse. Interesting fact: it takes over 50 years for a lighthouse to become fully mature.

My last night in Northland I stayed at a hut that was converted from an old lightkeeper's house. It took about six hours of hiking to get to this hut, but it was worth it. The views were pretty amazing the hike itself gave me some much needed exercise. The hut: