We’re getting close to the end with this penultimate article in the Australasian series. Thank you for bearing with me. I thought I would shift my focus and provide an update on various lists that I maintain. I’m known to be a bit obsessive-compulsive and I tally visits to places or objects that I consider important for whatever subconscious reason.
Lighthouses
My lighthouse total increased by two, one I saw close-up and one I spotted from a distance. Both encounters happened in Port Stephens, about a three hour drive north of Sydney, Australia. The first lighthouse adorned rocky Fingal Island just beyond the mouth of Port Stephens (photo). We spotted it twice, initially while on a whale watching cruise and later after we climbed to the top of Tomaree Head. We never got any closer. That would have required a boat.
On the other hand, geography couldn’t block our stop at the Port Stephens Inner Lighthouse on the edge of Nelson Bay. A road led right up to it (map). This lighthouse served as an active aid to navigation all the way through the 20th Century, shutting down just within the past few years. Nonetheless, the site continued to preserve an important mission as the headquarters for a unit of Marine Rescue NSW. The onsite cottage where keepers once lived now housed a tearoom and a small museum. I had a very nice chat with one of the volunteers about the history of the light and the surrounding area.
Ferries
Hugging the coasts like we did offered plenty of opportunities for ferry travel. Our chosen route in New Zealand crossed Auckland Harbour from the city’s main ferry dock to Devonport. It took only a few minutes. I could probably drive to Devonport faster than walking down to the dock, waiting for the ferry, and riding across. Why though? I loved being on the water as Auckland’s jagged skyline receding in the background. Later in the trip we wanted to take the ferry to Rangitoto Island. Unfortunately the weather had other plans and we couldn’t go.
We rode two ferries in Australia, both within Sydney Harbour. The first ferry took us to the Taronga Zoo (photo). We enjoyed that ride so much that we used the ferry again when we went to Manly Beach (photo). I enjoyed watching ferries enter and depart Sydney’s Circular Quay. The harbour hummed like a beehive; a constant flurry of motion over water.
Waterfalls
We didn’t see a lot of waterfalls although we hadn’t really planned to seek them out either. The waterfall at Lake Ngakoro impressed me the most and it just sort of appeared. I didn’t know about it ahead of time. It’s uniqueness related to its temperature. Most waterfalls I’ve visited flowed down from mountains, often composed of bone-chillingly cold snowmelt. The opposite condition existed at Lake Ngakoro (map), a part of Wai-O-Tapu geothermal park near Rotorua, New Zealand.
Spring-fed streams flowed gently across chromatic terraces and bubbling mudflats, kept hot by volcanic activity just below the surface. I’m not sure if temperatures actually hit the boiling point as the creek dumped into Lake Ngakoro although it certainly let off a lot of steam. The lake sat a couple of metres below the nearest terrace and created quite the unusual scorching waterfall. I could feel heat radiating from the falls on a cool winter day.
Breweries
I talked about breweries in the previous episode so I won’t go into much detail. We visited 11 breweries in total although Lord Nelson was a repeat from our trip a couple of decades ago so my lifetime total in this part of the world increased by 10.
Australia:
- 4 Pines Brewing Co., Manly
- All Hands Brewing House, Sydney
- Endeavour Tap Rooms, Sydney
- Hope Brewhouse, Nelson Bay
- Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel, Sydney (repeat)
- Murray’s Brewing Co., Bobs Farm
- Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe, Sydney
New Zealand
- Croucher Brewing / BREW Craft, Rotorua
- Dr Rudi’s Rooftop Brewing Co., Auckland
- Shakespeare Hotel & Brewery, Auckland
- Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen, Auckland
My personal brewery count stood at 475 as the trip concluded.
Fortifications
I kind-of visited some forts, fortresses and fortifications. I guess they counted. I’ll count them. Why not?
We managed to tour through the North Head Batteries in Devonport, New Zealand until fierce wintertime rains drove us indoors. Later we experienced the abandoned bunkers of the World War 2 Fort Tomaree (photo) near Shoal Bay in New South Wales, Australia.
The best one, however, we observed only from a distance. Fort Denison sat within Sydney Harbour in Australia (map). We got a great view both times we took the ferry. Fort Denison covered every piece of tiny Pinchgut Island. It served as a defensive fortification for Sydney and sometimes as a prison during its primary years of activity in the early to mid Nineteenth Century.
But No Counties
I didn’t add anything to my most significant compulsion, my relentless need to count counties in the United States. However I have something else in the works that will help with that. Stay tuned and hopefully you’ll see something in the next few months.
Articles in the Australasian Adventures Series:
- Preparations and Arrival
- On the Waterfront
- Vistas
- Geothermal
- Heading Inland
- The Hunter Region
- Wild Animal Encounters
- Captive Animal Encounters
- Epic Runs
- Breweries
- Lists
- Changes
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr
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