Laura's Lighthouses

It was rainy and cool when I woke up this morning in Mundaring. I drove for 5 hours Southeast to Albany (not the Capital of New York) as there are 3 lighthouses here, the lighthouses of the Great Southern Coast. My plan was to see the lighthouses in the National Park quickly and then head North toward Augusta so I could see the lighthouses there tomorrow. However, since this is the long weekend (Monday is the Queen’s birthday) and it’s motor cross this long weekend, so everywhere is booked. The last place I could find is actually in Albany in an executive room, but since I wanted a place to sleep tonight, the Pajero is big enough for me to sleep in, but I also wanted a shower, so here I am! But it’s great! Albany has an old navy ship, The Brig Amity. It’s pretty cool, but because of the rain, I didn’t walk on it. From here I headed to Torndirrup National Park to find the lighthouses. I stopped at a pretty beach called Cable Beach. But again, I didn’t get out because of the rain. But again I didn't get out because of the rain.



Anyway, I thought that I would only be able to see one lighthouse here, (I know a 5 hour drive for 1 lighthouse?, but it payed off.) I was able to see all 3!!! I saw Cave Point Lighthouse first, but from a distance, as the road to it is closed.



From here, I could see Eclipse Island Lighthouse, but from a further distance because it’s on an Island. This lighthouse was built in 1926 as a manned kerosene light. This was the first Commonwealth lighthouse to be built in Western Australia. This lighthouse is 119 meters (390 feet) above sea level, is 14 meters (46 feet) tall and is visible for 15 Nautical Miles. The light flashes 3 times in 12 seconds and has been solar powered since 1976 when the lantern room was removed to install a beacon.



I drove through Torndirrup National Park a bit more and stumbled upon Breaksea Island Lighthouse. Again from a distance, because it’s on an island. But it was a good day, 3 lighthouses, I’m no longer going through withdrawals!!



In Torndirrup National Park, there is a Gap and a Natural Bridge. A bit of background first. The continents of Australia and Antarctica were bound together along this rugged coastline for more than one billion years, forming part of the super-continent Gondwana. The ancient continents were formed mainly of gneiss (sounds like “nice“) a rock created deep in the Earth‘s crust. Pressure and friction at the base of the two fused continents caused rock to melt and slowly rise up through the gneiss. This molten rock slowly cooled, hardening into granite and helping to cement the continents together. Australia and Antarctica separated about 45 million years ago when the last sections of the super-continent broke apart. The rocks where you now stand were left behind when the continents parted. Today, rock formations on Australia‘s southern coast can still be matched to identical rocks on the northern coast of Antarctica near Windmill Islands. Still drifting to the north, Australia is 5 centimetres further from Antarctica than it was one year ago today!
The granite which forms the Gap and the Natural Bridge was created when molten rock rose from deep in the earth‘s crust. It hardened 20 kilometres below what was then the surface. Water and wind wore and eroded away the softer layers of rock which lay above the granite. No longer held down by this weight, the granite expanded and cracked as it slowly rose to become exposed at the surface. Driven by wind and waves, water and air pressure wore open the cracks, quarrying the granite into block shaped sections. Waves relentlessly pounded against the coast, eventually tearing away loose blocks of granite to create the gap and the Natural Bridge. Sometime in the future… the Gap will widen and disappear…the Natural Bridge will collapse and become a new Gap.


The Gap and The Natural Bridge