The Day of Lighthouses, Jan. 20th

My dad is an inveterate fan of lighthouses. Many of our family vacations involved a visit to at least one lighthouse, if not three or four. My mom often jokes that he has more pictures of lighthouses than of his children; given his extensive collection, it might not be a joke. Since we could not be with my dad on his birthday, we did something that we think he would have enjoyed. In honor of my dad's birthday, Joey and I stopped off at three lighthouses on our drive from Byron Bay to Port Macquarie. We may not have hit every lighthouse on this stretch of coastline but we tried.

First stop, Cape Byron Lighthouse, Australia's most easterly lighthouse. Cape Byron Lighthouse was completed in 1901. It flashes every 15 secs and can be seen 27 nautical miles out. It is one of 13 major lighthouses built in New South Wales between 1858 and 1903, many designed by James Barnet. Cape Byron Lighthouse was actually designed by his successor, Charles Harding, though it is similar to a James Barnet lighthouse. I particularly liked the elaborate turret and the castle-like details (how's that for some architectural lingo -- this is obviously not my field).






Next stop, Smoky Cape Lighthouse. This lighthouse was completed in 1891. Although closer to civilization than many lighthouses, the construction of this lighthouse was still a major undertaking. In my opinion, it is not as graceful as Cape Byron but the octagonal shape is intriguing. Every 20 seconds, it flashes a group of three that can be seen 26 nautical miles out. The Keeper's house and Assistant Keeper's houses are now available as holiday rentals. The hike down to the beach -- or rather back up from the beach -- is a tough one but the beach is quite lovely and secluded.

Before we made it to our final lighthouse, we stopped at the Trial Bay Gaol. It had just closed so we didn't get to see the inside. However, the exterior is formidable enough. It was built to house convicts as they built a breakwater in the late 1800s but ended up only being used for a short period of time during WWII. Trial Bay was named after the wreckage of the Trial, a brig used by a group of Sydney convicts in an attempted escape. They wrecked in this bay in 1816. Thus, it is fitting to include the Trial Point Gaol in a post about lighthouses.

The final stop on our lighthouse tour was Macking Point. We didn't get there until after dark so the pictures aren't fantastic. Macking Point is about 8km south of Port Macquarie. It is located high on a headland so the structure itself is quite short. Macking Point light flashes a group of four every 20 secs that can be seen 16 nautical miles out. It is a rather stubby lighthouse but the views from the point are fantastic. To the south, Lighthouse beach stretches on and on.