Barrenjoey Lighthouse

I had decided to go and stay overnight or so over the Queen's Birthday long weekend. The most lucrative place was Port Stephens but I couldn't find any bookings at my fav backpackers so I decided to book a place at somewhere else.. and picked the Batemans Beach instead... The thing is.. I lived in Canberra for about 5 months.. and during those days, I was never inclined to go there even once. Maybe having seen Adelaide's white sandy beaches had set a high bar for my expections of a beach... I cancelled my booking a couple days before because finding a car rental was going to mean me having to do something for the first time.. And I hate doing things I don't know and would include asking a friend or a coworker for their advice..

So I decided to go someplace close to the city that didn't require me to pay overnight accommodation.. double bonus!

Initially I thought I'd go to Collaroy Beach, but saw that the same bus, L90, goes all the way to the Palm beach so it was an instant decision to visit the Barrenjoey Lighthouse aituated at the very tip of the landmasses as you can see fro google maps. Besides I think I have a thing about lighthouses. I have a very special lighthouse in mind as our wedding venue I've never been to yet..

The bus ride to the Palm beach is nice especially if you're sitting on the last seat on those ultra-long buses. It does get a little curvy and isn't the most enjoyable for people with any form of motion sickness... But I survived the ride.. and got off a stop ahead of where I was supposed to get off because I was so taken aback with the spectacular view.


The walk to the Barrenjoey lighthouse is supersteep and there are no stairs. The weather was beautiful in the morning when I Was making my mind up but when I did get to the Palm beach, it looked like it could rain any moment. The laborous walk uphill to the lighthouse is very rewarding as you get amaysome views from up there. There's also a whale watch point where you can sit drinking in all the beauty that surrounds you for hours waiting for one of the getle giants of the ocean to surface for a little bit of a playtime. I sat there for a long time.. but I wasn't lucky enough to see although as soon as I got there, people had exclaimed about seeing a splash somewhere but I must've missed it by this much! This is a photo of the whale watch point taken from atop the lighthouse:


I sat at the whale watch point sketching the lighthouse through a bit of a drizzle but left when the kind ranger announced the last tour of the lighthouse for the day (at 3:00pm). It was a half hour tour where he took us to the top of the lighthouse. I'd never been up the top of any lighthouse yet so that was an amazing experience. The windy side is so windy that my camera was almost ready to fly away with the winds. The place has a very old history. This port used to serve as a smuggler's point to drop off goods so they wouldn't have to pay the taxes had they unloaded the shipment at the Sydney harbor instead. The tour guide also explained that the lighthouse had a red screen on so the ships could distinguish this lighthouse from the Sydney one.


The steep walk down is much faster as I was running down most of the way. The place was an amazing visit and will stay in my heart for years to come..