Weekend Vacation Part 3: Smoky Cape Lighthouse

After walking through the Gaol, Mum and I headed back onto the roads driving south again. We had planned to try and stay off the main highway as much as possible and instead stick to the winding "Scenic" highways instead; they're not all very clearly marked however, and one wrong turn led us into the beautiful Arakoon and Hat Head State Parks and eventually to the breath-taking Smoky Cape Lighthouse.





This little homestead turned out to have a very rich history.
Smoky Bay was named by Captain Cook himself; named for the great amount of smoke rising in the area from Aboriginal burn-off fires.

It's also claiming to be the highest residence on the Western shore of Australia. I don't know if it's true or not but it certainly is up very high, and has an absolutely spectacular view.

This lighthouse was finished in 1891 and is apparently one of the last lighthouses built for "architectural excellence" or aesthetics. All future lighthouses would simply be engineering projects with all the stress on functionality, not beauty.



It also has an octagonal tower. It's electric now of course, but for many many years it was run by keepers and their family. Now-a-days you can actually rent rooms to stay at the old keeper's house!
Looking around from the top of this headland, you can't see any signs of human civilisation. It's an incredibly isolating feeling which is very rare now-a-days with beach-front views and properties becoming all the rage.
I really can't imagine what it would have been like living there back in the days before cars though; so far from other people.



It IS a drop dead gorgeous location though, and whoever is the current caretaker is doing a phenomenal job. Fresh new paint and trim on everything!
I've aways had a little secret dream of being a lighthouse keeper.

Weekend Vacation Part 2: Trial Bay Gaol

After the delicious breakfast, mum and I hopped into the car and drove around to the Trial Bay Gaol located just south of South West Rocks.







The Gaol (pronounced just like "Jail") was established in 1876 as an experimental Public Works Gaol. The intention was to have the inmates construct a breakwater which would shelter the notoriously difficult to navigate Trial Bay. The whole project had to be abandoned by 1903 with only 300 of the planned 1500 meters break wall completed. Mostly due to severe storm damage and not enough governmental funding.







(tee hee; John Howard)


Absolutely stunning views; you can see what's little left of the breakwater.



During World War 1 from 1915-1918 the Gaol was given a new lease on life as a German internment camp.

Weekend Vacation: Part 1 - South West Rocks

The beginning of a fairly massive catch-up. Starting with the weekend vacation to a couple of towns south of Coffs Harbour Mum and I did about a month or so ago.

Our trip started with an overnight stay at the lovely South West Rocks.



We arrived in the afternoon. After checking into a local hotel we took a walk along the waters, admiring the amazing rocks they had along the beach.

















There were several options for places to eat for dinner, but as it so happened I had been reading a book at the time called "This Way To The Sea" by Gillian Nicholson. It's a very well told non-fiction story about Gillian and her husband's Sea Change; moving out of a Sydney apartment and to a Scotts Head farm-land (quite literally just north of South West Rocks). In the book she mentioned going to a restaurant in South West Rocks called Geppy's for her and her husband's wedding anniversary and raved about the food!

It didn't take very long to find the restaurant (South West Rocks is not a very big town) and we enjoyed a very amusing and delicious dinner!



I had never quite seen a more eclectic restaurant! It's supposedly an Italian Restaurant and highly involved in the Slow Food Movement; meaning all of their ingredients are sourced locally.
But as you can see; for an Italian restaurant they had Escher and Jazz musicians on the walls and Spanish flamenco music playing over the loud speakers!
To make it even more international while we were there eating a large Irish group of friends came to enjoy dinner (at least they certainly had the right accent!) It was St. Patrick's Day that day, of course so they were very jolly and decked out in their greenery!



The beautiful Heritage House was all booked out, so we couldn't sleep there. Mum and I consoled ourselves by having breakfast at the lovely Cottage Cafe just below it the next morning instead.