Our Camp Visit to the Manukau Light House

In our team we are learning to write a recount which is a non-fiction account of an event or something which has happened. First we looked at what the features of a recount were. Then we practised writing a few sentences to make a short recount and after that we wrote this together as a class- with much discussion and many additions and alterations as we went.

On a cloudy, dull-weathered Wednesday morning we arrived enthusiastically at the historic Manukau Heads lighthouse, about 20 minutes by bus from our camp at Matakawau on the Awhitu Peninsula. We were excited because we wanted to see where the Orpheus shipwreck happened, since we had learned about it in class.

We were met by Paul Dixon and Sue Johns and their dog, Toru - our tour guides. Toru was wearing a lighthouse jacket with a cross-stitch picture of the lighthouse on it.


First we climbed a flight of steps (about 119 of them) up a steep hill to reach the lighthouse and the lookout where we sat and listened to a talk by Paul who told us about the history of the original lighthouse which was first built after the Orpheus shipwreck in February 1863.

Paul also told us that the original lighthouse was across the valley. He explained that a group of locals organised refurbishing it and making it an exact replica of the original lighthouse. He told us about the wood carving nearby which was done by a man in memory of his mother and wife.

We learned that the Manukau peninsula is made of sand and across the harbour is made of volcanic rock. Paul showed us a piece of metal which had come from a shipwreck in the harbour and had been discovered on the beach.

Paul asked us, "Who can guess how Toru got his name?" Rosie guessed it was because the dog had three patches on his back. Toru means 'three' in Maori.

Then we split into groups to explore the lighthouse, to go to the lookout and to have a quiz with the teachers and parents.

In the lighthouse we learned about the light and the prisms and that they are now obsolete. "It is one of a kind," said Paul about the light. He values the prisms as diamonds. "If you cut your finger on one, it would really hurt," he added.

The original lighthouse used paraffin for the light and needed two men to keep it going in six hour shifts. We learned that you could not live in the lighthouse because it leaked. From the deck we could see the exact point where the Orpheus sank on the sand bar. We could see hugely strong currents in the water and a small boat struggling through the waves which were bigger than they looked from our position. We could also see where the old signal point used to be and where the Tasman Sea meets the Manukau Harbour. In the distance we could see Auckland city and the Skytower.

It was a peaceful and calm place because it was so quiet.

At the lookout we learned more about the Orpheus shipwreck which happened at 2 oclock on a sunny afternoon in good weather and quite close to land. It sank because it hit the sand bar in shallow water. Many people on board could not swim and 189 lives were lost. It is New Zealand's greatest maritime disaster.

At the end of our visit, we thanked Paul, Sue and Toru and got back on the bus to go to the Orua Bay Bird Park. We had learned a lot that day and many of us decided that we would like to return with our families so we can show them what we had experienced.

Here is an article about our visit, published in the Waiuku Post.

For other links to the lighthouse click here.

If you would like to have a guided tour of the lighthouse, phone 092351458.