Wednesday 13^th January 2016

Having arrived safely back at the boat yesterday afternoon, unpacked and settled back in, we set out in the car again this morning to visit Hornby Lighthouse.  This ‘stick of rock’ lighthouse had caught my eye as we sailed between Sydney Heads back in early December, and I was keen to see it close up.  As we had already visited North Head, we thought we’d like to go and have a look at South Head and its attractive lighthouse.

Less than an hour’s drive took us to a pleasant little bay at Camp Cove, not far from South Head, where locals were enjoying the beach and the sunshine.

Camp Cove bay and beach, with Sydney CBD on the skyline.

We were lucky to find a space in a little car park where the road to South Head ended near Camp Cove, wandered around the beach and found the footpath leading to the lighthouse.  There were beautiful views from the footpath around the edge of the peninsula, which took us past Lady Bay Beach, where clothes are optional.

Sydney CBD across the water.                                                                                    Interesting rocks lined the footpath.

If you want to get rid of those bikini lines in your tan, this is the place to come.

A short stroll around the loop track to the lighthouse.                                     The lighthouse keeper’s cottage.

I love this little lighthouse!                                                                           It has been guiding ships safely through the Heads since 1858.

“In 1857, over 120 people died when the British clipper ship the Dunbar was shipwrecked at South Head during a gale. Less than two months later another ship, the Catherine Adamson ran aground at North Head.”

Hornby Lighthouse was built to prevent any further losses by helping mariners to navigate between the Heads.  It was painted in red and white stripes to distinguish it from the Macquarrie lighthouse 2 kilometres to the south.  It is still in operation today, and is the second oldest working lighthouse in New South Wales.  And my favourite so far.

Looking across to North Heads.                                                                                 A beautiful calm day.

Looking East from beside the Hornby Lighthouse – these are the rocks it warns of!

With lunchtime approaching, we headed back to the car and set off south, with Botany Bay in our sights.  We stopped at Watson’s Bay and sat on the grass looking out over the beach to eat our picnic lunch, then went for a stroll along the front. 

A milestone in Watson’s Bay.

When we came across a crowd of people all eating fish and chips out of cardboard trays, we remembered that this was where we had been told you can get some of the best fish and chips in Sydney.  At this point we regretted having already eaten, but vowed to return at some point to try them out.  For today, it was time to continue our journey to Botany Bay.