A bit of history first:
Arrow Rock is named after the first ship to sail into Nelson harbour, the Arrow. She was a 212-ton brig chartered by the New Zealand Company and used as a store ship on the company’s expedition to set up a settlement in Tasman Bay. She sailed into Nelson harbour on 2 November 1841. Arrow Rock was the site of the Fifeshire wreck in 1842, which gave the rock its secondary name, Fifeshire Rock. There are many spotted shags who live on the rock hence the white discolouration.
Haulashore Island also has the name of Fifeshire Island, and strangely enough both names have been retained although Haulashore seems to be more popular today. The name Fifeshire was an immigrant vessel, a barque, and went ashore on the Arrow Rock when leaving the harbour in February 1842. She was a total loss as she broke her back. The vessel and all its gear and cargo were sold to Mr. John Poynter who had a sale of all the goods on Haulashore Island. Since then both Arrow Rock and Haulashore Island bear the name Fifeshire. Some would argue that Haulashore Island was not an island before the new harbour entrance was cut through in 1906, but it has always borne the name of island and was indeed an island at high water when it was cut off from the Boulder Bank. Old maps show a channel—the Pilot Channel—between the lighthouse and the magazine evidently used by the pilot as a short cut when going out to ships waiting outside the bar. But the most interesting feature of early maps of Haulashore Island is that they show the island as heavily fortified—there were three forts or batteries sited there ready to repel any enemy that approached. The forts were given special names to commemorate engagements in which Nelson had taken part. At the south-east tip of the island was Fort Bastia, Fort Calvi guarded the south-western approach and running across the northern tip of the island was the Aboukir Battery (refer GC6VZ45). Yet if you wander about Haulashore Island today among the pine trees, you fail to see any signs of these fortifications. Not a fragment of ruined stone wall, not a single block of masonry to be seen anywhere. What has happened to the forts? Where have they gone? Who destroyed them? We haven't one sketch or plan to show what they looked like! The thought dawns that this was just FAKE NEWS and there never were any forts!
Here’s the challenge to logging this Virtual Cache. You must visit the published location from where you will get to enjoy an outstanding view of the above two iconic features of Nelson. You must take a photo with either one or both of these two features in the background PLUS in the photo foreground must be a Tasman Mako rugby team logo (try and be creative with this last requirement).
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.