Access

Castlepoint is well signposted from Masterton. Follow Te Ore Ore Road from northbound SH2 in Masterton and continue for 64 km. Access is from the carpark at the end of Jetty Road in Castlepoint.

Track

The track initially crosses a wooden footbridge over the neck of sand at the northern end of Deliverance Cove and climbs Castle Point on a concrete and wooden walkway. A boardwalk climbs to the summit, circles around the lighthouse and later rejoins the track down.

Geology

The limestone and sandstone forming Castle Rock was deposited in shallow water around 2 million years ago at the beginning of the last series of global Ice Ages. The offshore shell banks gave habitat to over 70 species, including a species of scallop, which today live in cooler waters off Otago. Geologists have thus been able to ascertain the climate at that time was cooler. Conversely other species exhibited in the fossil makeup are warm water dwellers, suggesting fluctuations in the climate during the formation of the rock.

Small marine fossils known as foraminifera with a difference in age of 2 million years make up some of the limestone layers. Large shell fragments have also been crushed under immense pressure and mixed with sand to form the rocks. A fault runs either side of the Reef.

Fauna

Watch for mutually inquisitive yellow eyed penguins around the rocks. They may be completely unnerved by human presence. One theory also suggests that as they reach old age they go blind (rather like Australasian gannets). This may explain why you can sometimes get very close to one and they are seemingly oblivious to you being there. The knee-high residents often remain still enough for you to observe the blemished yellow stripe of feathers that arcs elegantly through their eyes.

Australasian gannets, black shags and white-fronted terns sometimes circle on the updraughts.

European History

Castle Point is crowned by the lighthouse, which is constructed of cast iron sections bolted together and stands 23 metres tall. It is sited 52 m above sea level and its light has a range of 26 nautical miles (48 km). The lighthouse was fully automated in 1985 and is controlled by a computer from Wellington.

Cook noted in his diary “[we saw] a remarkable hillock which stands close to the sea”. During his observations, Endeavour was approached by a flotilla of Maori canoes, although no altercation or contact took place.

Famous visitors to the area have included the Reverend William Williams in 1843 and William Colenso.