Western Australia – Day 6 – Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

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Day 6 and we’re went south. The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse sits at the most south-westerly point of Australia, but it’s also a little different from many of the other lighthouses we’ve visited not because of that. Rather, this one’s a working lighthouse. Interesting as you’d expect ships today to benefit from modern navigational equipment, GPSes and the like that seem to make lighthouses redundant. But as the guide explained it, in this age of digital attacks and hacking, you can never not benefit from having some good old-fashioned equipment.

We arrived early and well before the opening time, though there was another Singaporean family ahead of us. Why am I not surprised LOL. In any case, the extra time afforded Ling lots of time to get the kids ready with their heat packs, while I could explore the area a bit and managed to catch some beautiful photos of white horses along the rocky coast line, thanks also to the 40-150mm f2.8 lenses which gave me the reach I needed the breaking waves. The other family opted for the audio tour, while we were the only family on the guided tour – so we had pretty much the entire lighthouse to ourselves.

Hannah was able to climb the approximately six floors of the tower, while Peter could also do so though more slowly. The view up-top is as incredible as I remember it, though as soon as we’d climbed to the top, we had to scurry over to the side where we would not face the full-blast of the ocean winds. The guide was informative, though at spots he sounded like he was also on auto-mode. Must be tough sounding fresh when you’re doing this every hour every day.

The area has also seen quite a bit of development since I was last here in 2003: including the new cafeteria, and also the viewing gallery (more on that later).

There are several spots along the road to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse where you can stop for pictures with the tower in the backdrop. And it’s cold – not so much because of the 4 degree celsius, but ocean winds blowing at you!
White horses on the coast line just beside the lighthouse. There is a clearly marked-out small trail from the car park that you can take for some really nice views of the shoreline.
Cow with eye-patch, hook, eye-scope, a parrot perched on the shoulder says MoooAaarrr…?
We opted for the guided tour too. Coincidentally, we had the same guide (who has been working the lighthouse tours for the last 18 years now) as when we were here in 2003! He looks like he hasn’t aged!
Hannah said it’s csary up there! Guide wasn’t kidding when he said hold onto your glasses – you receive the full blast of ocean winds on the unprotected sides of the tower.
We were again blessed with a beautifully sunny day and clear blue skies.
Tried doing a couple of long exposure shots up top, but it was just too windy up top!
The lighthouse casts long shadows @ early morning sun of 9:15AM.
Coming down is easier than climbing up!
The back of the lighthouse against the morning sun.
This viewing gallery was built just a few years ago (3 years?). Apparently there were too many visitors climbing out to the rough rocks ahead to take pictures, so the gallery helps give them that opportunity without risking their lives.
Yikes!

The drive to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is an easy 45 minutes from Margaret River without any tricky spots. Highly recommended: and if you’re visiting, go for the guided tour, if nothing else to be able to climb the tower to the top for magnificent 360 degree views! Next stop: Whale Watching @ Augusta!