Bart Bear's Blog

I love lighthouses. They are always in the most interesting spots, on headlands or clifftops. The best ones are the ones where you can see them best from harbour ferries or cruise boats. Newcastle has a beaut, called Nobbys. It is on what was once a rocky island (Nobbys Head) just off the south side of the mouth of the Hunter river. A lighthouse was built here way back in 1818 because Newcastle was, and still is, a very important coal port. The island has changed since then. Lots of it have been blasted away to make the harbour better and it has been joined to the mainland by a causeway. You can walk right up to the lighthouse and there are great views from there. The causeway has let sand pile up on the seaward side and created a good surfing beach. Actually, the lighthouse is a bit hard to see from a distance. The most obvious buildings on Nobbys Head are the Signal Station and Port Control. The lighthouse is the smaller building with the pointy roof, to the left of the tower in the picture. The second picture shows the mouth of the river,and there is something in it that makes it obvious why Mum won't let me go on small boats by myself. I took this picture from a ferry and Mum had a tight grip on me at the time, even though we hadn't left the wharf yet.

Labels: lighthouse, New South Wales, Newcastle