Bean Rock Lighthouse is the landmark in the Waitemata Harbour swimmers must round. Photo / David Rowland. Richard Hills cannot wait to take on the Bean Rock Lighthouse Swim in Auckland again next ...

Bean Rock Lighthouse was first lit on July 24, 1871. Today, it still sits in its original position at the end of a reef in the Waitematā Harbour, atop Te Toka-o-Kapetaua (Kapetaua’s rock).

Bean Rock Lighthouse stands today as New Zealand’s oldest wooden lighthouse and is the sole surviving example of a sea washed tower in the country. It now runs on solar power.

By the time we'd reached Bean Rock lighthouse, five minutes from the downtown wharf, it was as though I'd been on holiday for a week. I didn't dare look back. Only eastward, towards Waiheke Island.