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Paradise Stone – 30 million years in the making

New Zealand’s human history began some eight hundred years ago, but the skeleton of the land we live in was formed over thirty million years ago. And it certainly looked a lot differently to the way it looks now.

As the last Ice Age melted the rising waters formed what is now Whangarei harbour. The harbour was once a tropical lagoonal basin, surrounded by a hinterland cloaked in primeval forest. Once part of the ocean floor, fragments of ancient coral, crustacean and mollusc shells have been captured within the stone. Some of the best examples of this stone can be found in a place aptly known as Paradise – just ten minutes south of Whangarei.

Paradise Quarry is a boutique quarry that lies in Portland. It produces Paradise Stone, a unique, extremely beautiful and very popular high-grade limestone. The quarry occupies ten acres and sits within 170 acres of stunning rolling pastoral land over-looking the water and Whangarei city. An area of the property was entrusted to the Queen Elizabeth 11 National Trust to preserve the outstanding examples of Paradise Stone in their naturally exposed and weathered form.

It’s the unique appearance and timeless texture that sets Paradise Stone apart. Because the colour and texture is unlike any other stone in the country, and unique to the area, Paradise Stone becomes not just part of a landscape project but, more often than not, the focal point of the design. The stone from Paradise is now an integral part of prestigious landscape and building projects throughout the north island of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. As our lives move faster and our surroundings become more virtual, the stone from Paradise Quarry takes us back to a time when things were real and changes happened very, very slowly. It does prove the point that good things really do take time – in the case of the stone from Paradise…….around thirty million years.