The Lighthouse and the Tubes

As a strong surge of sub-Antarctic air dubbed “The Antarctic Vortex” travels across Australia affecting up to two-thirds of the country (specifically the southern and eastern regions), Dean and I enjoyed a lovely day where the temperature reached 17°C (62.6°F).

We were left thinking:

What Big Chill?

OK.  I think we were lucky and today it is much colder than it was yesterday.  It’s currently 11:30 am and we’ve yet to reach double figures.  The predicted winds haven’t arrived, though it is a little windy and the forecast predicts gale force winds within the next hour or two.  I’m just glad we are not in the thick of it where there has been reports of Thundersnow!  Yes, in Australia!

. . .

Consequently, today is not the best day to go exploring, but yesterday was when we enjoyed a beautiful winter’s day.  We went for a drive to Beecroft Peninsular to see the Point Perpendicular Lighthouse where the cliffs around the lighthouse are more than 75 metres (246 feet) high.  That’s a long drop, straight down and as such, the lighthouse is surrounded by fencing with plenty of signage warning about the dangers.

I thought the view was amazing, fence and all, and beyond, looking south across the mouth of the bay, is the Booderee National Park where we’d been exploring a little less than two weeks ago.

We’d not paid attention to the time of day, nor the distance we had to travel to get there.  Nor had we paid any attention to what was in the lighthouse vicinity and, as a result, we found ourselves in an area where we could have gone bushwalking but didn’t because we were not prepared to do so.  We may return to walk a few of the tracks another day.

What we did was arrive at a perfect time to enjoy the area and then take the Outer Tubes track.  A short 2 kilometres return walk (1.2 miles) down to where torpedo tubes were installed on a rock platform during World War II to protect Jervis Bay from enemy attack.

The first section of the track was rated medium difficult, with rest of the track rated difficult.  The second section certainly was a steep descent on loose gravel with a few steps installed, but then to reach the tubes, there were three steep (metal) staircases and a very rough ‘goat track’ around the corner of a section of the headland rock wall.  Dean bounded around the corner like a jackrabbit, while I took it easy with my heart rate increasing at the thought of one misplaced foot.

But once we navigated our way around the corner, the bay awaited.  Jervis Bay is a 102 square kilometre (39 sq miles) oceanic bay and looked spectacular from where we were standing.

We stood there watching a few fishermen out in a couple of boats and then headed back up the track to where we’d parked the car.  As steep as it was heading down, I didn’t find it that difficult heading back up.  I think perhaps I’m getting used to the rigours of bushwalking.

Point Perpendicular Lighthouse

Just a fence

Point Perpendicular Lighthouse and surrounds

Through the fence

A few windows

The Point Perpendicular Lighthouse

Beyond the fence

Rock wall on the way down to the tubes

Around the corner

The rock wall

Dean beyond the corner of the rock wall

The Torpedo Tube up close

Currarong Beach