Bart Bear's Blog

All of the rock needed to build the Montague Island lighthouse came from this one big granite outcrop at the top of the island, just over 100 metres from the tower site. You can see the drill marks in the face of the rock where explosives were set to split the rock. Near the main rock there are small piles of roughly squared rock left over from the material needed for the tower. If you look carefully around and under these left-over rocks you can find some interesting things. When I was there a mother crested tern was watching us and making a great noise. The reason was that she had a nest and a chick on one of the rocks. Underneath another rock a little penguin was nesting. Normally penguins nest in burrows in the soil down among the vegetation. This one obviously prefers the security of a good solid roof and walls. There are no cats, dogs or rats on the island so she is quite safe in her stone house.

Labels: birds, lighthouse, New South Wales, south coast