Limestone Island sits in the middle of the Whangarei river. Cruisers, container ships, cargo ships, and day sailors continually pass by this once bustling limestone quarry. The island made primarily of limestone has had a diverse history. From a war zone to cement factory to nature preserve. After passing her over a dozen times we decide to stop and explore her history.
In the early 1800’s several Maori tribes fought over possession of the island. In the mid 1800’s the island was leased from the Maori and Lime works was established. Then, in 1881 the first batch of Portland Cement was produced in New Zealand (and probably the Southern Hemisphere). In the early 1900’s, Lime Works employed 270 people until 1918 when most of the equipment and buildings were moved to the main land. Limestone Island was still quarried for limestone for a number of years.
In 1965, the Aero Club was allowed to graze cattle on the island. In 1989, the island was gifted to Whangarei District Council. This was also when the start of conservation and ecological restoration began. In 1996, the first rangers cottage was built. Since then, the island has since had over 23,000 trees planted and its become a haven for kiwis, birds, and lizards.
Limestone Island Today
There has been a lot of work to restore native vegetation, stabilize historic structures and provide beautiful walking trails and signage for visitors. The visitor center has two towering tikis with beautiful carving and sea shell eyeballs at its entrance.
Sugar Shack anchored in Shipwreck Bay which was a little disconcerting but a beautiful spot none the less.
In 1968, a very famous pirate radio ship called Tiri ran aground in Whangaparapara. It lost engine power and was then swept onto the rocks. Later it was laid to rest on the shores of Limestone Island along side another shipwreck.
Today you find towering stacks standing proud, furnaces, kilns, and lots of ruins of what was once a majestic cement factory.
You can walk through the ruins, inside the kilns and around the entire factory which is just a small reminder of what it once was.
We climbed to the top of a hill that overlooked the ruins and you can see Sugar Shack in the anchorage.
The single men’s residence, built in 1874, was just a long building with small, dorm like spaces. The caretaker’s residence, built in the mid 1800’s, was beautiful and had a fireplace in every room!
This was once a busy port, but now the enormous dock is in ruins with gaping holes in the structure.
Around the end of the island we found this old, metal conveyor belt that we assumed transported the gravel or cement from land to the ships. Lower photo is a great example of the beautiful limestone that stands proud on the island to this day.
Inhabitants
The only inhabitants are the caretakers, a dozen sheep, and 2 dozen kiwis. The island has proven to be a tremendous breeding ground for kiwis. With the removal of stoats and rats, the kiwi eggs and baby chicks thrive. Once the kiwis reach 1200g they are returned to the mainland.
The Cement Factory in its Prime
I love the diagram which walks you through the life of the limestone.
There is a lovely walking trail that takes you around the entire island during low tide. It takes about an hour to walk the trail around the edge of the island. There are several other trails that lead you across the island and around the ruins as well (see map at the top of the post). The limestone on the trail and the shells were super pretty.
We enjoyed several days at this anchorage where we were able to fully explore this lovely little Limestone Island.
Our blog posts run several weeks behind actual live events. This blog post occurred around mid-May 2024. Don’t miss out on our last blog post where we wander around a beautiful bird sanctuary at Tiritiri.