Author Description

An illustrated history and pictorial record together with tall tales of life on a coastal hill country station. Including the historic Ngakawau Hotel (40 miles from Masterton, 40 years ahead of it!) and the 'Holiday Light', Castle Point Lighthouse, with a chronicle of the Beach Annual Race Meeting. Castlepoint is the name of the towering rocks, sweeping sands,beckoning lighthouse and sheltering harbour that pierces the otherwise hostile coastline of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is also the name of the historic sheep and cattle station perched on the hills encircling the rural settlement there. It is these Castlepoints, along with the people who have inhabited them, the harsh and wild conditions they worked and lived in, and the memories they left that provide the bedrock of this book. It is also the story of the present, of today's custodians of the station and their dreams for its future. These custodians are Emily and Anders Crofoot, who took on Castlepoint Station in 1998 after selling their farm 65 miles from Manhattan, New York. Buttressed by the works of some of our finest artists and photographers, these three portray: the timeless Castlepoint summers of hunting, fishing and swimming; the thunder of hooves racing over sands; the crayfish being dragged from the sea by the sugar-sack full; and the ecstasy of the arrival of the Fly and Savage mail coach. They also recall: the bitter winds that toss ships onto savage rocks, and fanned scorching scrub fires; the incessant drownings in swollen rivers or the surging surf; and the loneliness of men without women, seeking consolation in the depths of a bottle.