Welcome to WELLYWOOD, a series of caches designed to enlighten you and show you around some of the wonderful locations in 'the coolest little capital of the world'.
You will be required to do some 'pre-work' to complete and find some of these caches, while others will require you to do some exploring 'out in the field', and some will require a combination of both. Most caches can be found in the greater Wellington area, although there may be a few that are further afield. We hope you enjoy the series.
Mākaro/Ward Island
Mākaro/Ward Island is one of the three small islands in Wellington harbour and is on the eastern side of the harbour, about 1.7 kilometres west of Eastbourne. It is about 250 metres long and 80 metres wide, with the long axis aligned north/south. The significantly larger Matiu/Somes Island lies about 5 km northwest.
The bulk of Ward Island consists of a steep sided block of yellowy/brown argilite, with a more or less flat top. There is a beach of greywacke shingle along the east side of the island. The rest of the coastline is rocky except for a pair of smaller beaches on the western side, backed by cliffs about 20m high. Numerous small reefs surround the island, particularly at the southern end. The main shipping channel to the ports of Wellington and Seaview passes to the west of Ward Island. The passage between Ward and Eastbourne is too shallow for vessels of any size.
During the early 19th century the island provided a place of refuge for Ngati Ira (a local Māori tribe) from other marauding tribes, and in World War 2 it was used as an anchor point for an anti-submarine /anti-shipping barrier to reduce the effective width of the harbour and make it more easily defensible should that need arise. As shown in the picture below a 1.8km wooden boom composed of two rows of wooden piles, set 6 feet apart and joined at the top by horizontal beams, extended out from Robinsons Bay in the suburb of Eastbourne. This harbour protection was continued across to Kau Point on the western shore of the harbour with a net suspended from buoys reaching out from the western side of Mākaro /Ward. By this means some 6.4 km’s of protection was provided from submarines and enemy shipping but apart from a few concrete blocks on the western side of the island no remains of these extensive structures can be seen today.
Anti-submarine boom linking Ward Island with Eastbourne. [ca 8 Sept 1945].
Mākaro/Ward Island is now a Government reserve managed by the Department of Conservation, and camping is not permitted. The island and water around it is mainly used by recreational divers and fishers and the island itself it is frequented in the main by seabirds.
Mākaro Street in Eastbourne is named after the island that can be seen at the seaward end of its short east-west length.
To complete this cache you'll need to find the year Ward Island's name was officially changed to Makaro/Ward Island - we'll call this ABCD. Cache can be found at S41 ab.cde E174 fg.hij. At this location you should get a good view of Mākaro/Ward Island.
a = A
b = B - A
c = C - D + A
d = C - D
e = B - C
f = D - h
g = c
h = B - D
i = A + A
j = D - d