Cape Otway Lightstation (1848) was one of the first light stations on the Australian mainland, built to guide ships coming in from England towards the port of Melbourne. It originally burnt whale oil, then later kerosene, before converting to electricity in 1939. In 1994 the main lighthouse was replaced by a new much smaller solar-powered lighthouse which now sits a few metres below the original tower. Cape Otway is the approximate boundary at which Bass Strait meets the southern ocean.
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| The road out to Cape Otway. |
Today the old lighthouse is preserved and open during the day as a tourist attraction. Accommodation is offered in the old lightkeepers lodge and other original buildings. We stayed in a small "studio" style room.
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| From the air (borrowed from www.lightstation.com). |
As you can see the lightstation is a small settlement. We stayed in the building furthest from the lighthouse, at top left.
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| Cape Otway Lighthouse |
The lighthouse is not particularly tall, because it sits on a cliff about 90 metres above the ocean. It could be seen from about 40 km out to sea, and together with another on King Island in Bass Strait marked the northern and southern limits of the safe channel leading into Melbourne.
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| Our quarters in the foreground, with the cafe and lighthouse beyond. |
Our room was quite "compact" and had no outlook to the sea or the lighthouse, although that is probably because it is designed to provide shelter from stormy weather. We settled in then went down to climb to the top of the lighthouse. It is not a particularly tall structure so is easy to ascend, and at the top is a tiny museum with some artifacts from the past. The lighthouse lamps and lens assembly weights about 2 tonnes and rotated about once every 90 seconds. To eliminate friction the whole 2 tonne assembly floats in a bath of mercury! The guide told us that once an earthquake caused the mercury to slop out of its container and run down the stairs.
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| The steps up the last part of the ascent to the top. |
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| Fine brass air vents circle the room at the top - ventilation for the burning whale oil? |
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| The view from the top. |
At 5 pm the lightstation closes to the public, and soon after that the staff lock the gates and go home leaving any guests there with the whole place to themselves. There did not seem to be any other guests, but early next morning I did see one woman with a toddler emerge from another house. We went down to the lighthouse that night, and again early in the morning (up at 5 am because we are on Wellington time). It was great having no-one else about, and so far from the nearest town.
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| The lighthouse is floodlit at night. |
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| Sue off looking for Pokemon in the early morning light. |
The site was also a lookout for spotting whales which come quite close to the shore here, but we could not see any that day. The main lighthouse is no longer operational, having been replaced by a much smaller automatic light which sits nearby. The old light had a 1,000 watt light bulb; the new one has a 35 watt bulb which is brighter!
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| Cape Otway was also a whaler's lookout. |
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| The much smaller modern lighthouse in front of the old one; solar panels nearby. |
We enjoyed our stay at such an unusual location, especially as we had such nice autumn weather. The room was small and modestly equipped, but had everything we needed. Except for the on-site cafe during the day there is nowhere to buy a meal, so you need to take your dinner with you. We were warned there is no cellphone or TV reception, but in fact we did manage to get both. I think it might depend on where you stand!
Next morning we set out early(ish), before the site opened, back up to the main road and turning west to head for the Twelve Apostles. We had a couple of small scares with wallabies, sitting in the shadows on the edge of the road. The worry is that they will hop across your path at the last moment and do serious damage to your car, and themselves. Fortunately neither wallaby made that mistake this time.
