DAY 5 CARAVANING AT AGNES WATERS WITH THE BAPTIST TAB CARAVANING GROUP... 2022...

Big photo share today...

We have book a whole day out on the LARC.  Nine of us were doing the whole day and then there were a group doing the sunset cruise once we got back.  The sunset cruise is only an hour where they just go a through one crew and a little up the beach and then come back to the Marina at sunset.  We have done this excursion previously so were keen to relieve some of our camping day memories and actually go up to Bustard Heads lighthouse and see it now that all the restoration has been done.  

We had to be down at the Marina at 6.30am for a 7am start.  Getting up the beach is dependent on the tides so hence the early start.

About to head off on our LARC adventure for the Day

 

Once the LARC was packed and we were all on board, we were off...

And we were off...

The Paradise Tour which is what we were booked on started with a journey along the edge of Eurimbula National Park over very sandy beaches an the crystal clear waters of four tidal creeks.  Our guide for the day was very entertaining as he filled us in on the history of the Town of 1770 and also pointed out many of the wildlife features in this area including the stingrays and they holes and the many different birds that we sighted along the way...

Huge eagle we saw along the way..

Bustard Heads.

Our guide Kev for our LARC tour.

Kev was a great tour guide and kept us entertained all day.

All those indents in the sand are made by the stringrays that feed in the bay...

Sand flats. you can see there are lot of stingrays around here from the indents in the sand...

 

Forecast was for rain today but instead the sun peeped through as we headed up the beach...

the Sun peeks through the clouds...

 

 Kev our guide also pointed out the beach erosion along the way and they took us through a little of what we could expect throughout the day and what we would be doing and seeing once we got up to the Lighthouse Station. 

Quite a bit of sand erosion along the beach...

We started to ascent our climb to our first stop of the morning which was morning tea at their hidden shaded picnic spot right on the edge of Jenny Lind Creek.  We would later come back here for lunch also.

About to ascend the climb up to Bustard Heads.

Views looking back along the beach from the climb up to the lighthouse at Bustard Heads.

Wild grevillea growing wild on the headlands at Bustard Heads.

Cactus growing wild on the headlands at Bustard Heads. It is a pest and they are trying to eradicate it...

Stopping for morning tea..

Our morning tea and lunch stop...

Lunch and morning tea set up at Bustard Heads.

Morning tea stop at Bustard Heads.

Tiny tiny micro bats hidden in the roof top of our morning tea stop at Bustard Heads...

From morning tea we took the very scenic 4WD journey up the Bustard Headlands track and they were not wrong, it guarantees you THE VERY BEST aerial view in the world  from a boat and then drops you at the footsteps of the historical Bustard Head Lightstaion aka "the Lighthouse of Tradegy".  

The climb up to the lighthouse at Bustard Heads.

Views looking back along the beach from the climb up to the lighthouse at Bustard Heads.

We arrived at the top and parked the LARC at the special LARC station.  We had also bought a plumber and his young son up with us as there was some work that needed to be done at the station.  He had about two hours in which to get it all done before it would be time to go again...

Bustard Head Light Station

The LARC Parc.

 

 

 A volunteer light keeper than meet us and took us for a guided tour through the light-keepers cottage that has now been transformed into a museum and is brimming with priceless arefacts, maritime treasures and enough mysteries to sink a ship (literally).

Bustard Head lighthouse as been beautifully restored

 

We were met by our volunteer lighthouse keeper guide for our tour.

 

 

There is quite a history to the lighthouse.  We used to camp up at Pancake in the late 1990's and early 2000's and would often hike up to the lighthouse as an excursion with our kids for the day.  Back in those days, the lighthouse and cottages had been pretty much destroyed with vandals having had a field day up here breaking all the windows and kicking in walls.  On our last visit this place was in ruins.

Bustard Head was named by Captain James Cook in 1770 in honour of a bustard which was shot and eaten by the landing party.  Along with Sandy Cape Lighthouse it is made using prefabricated segments of cast iron bolted togeher.

In 1932 the original cottages were destroyed by a fire and in 1935 the outside stairs of the lighthouse were relocated inside the tower.  The lighthouse was automated and de-manned in 1986 and the surrounds were left to the elements.  

The lighthouse and cottages today owe their transformation to Stuart and Shirley Buchanan who were past lighthouse keepers at Bustard Head from 1974 to 1981.  They were very much aided in their restoration program by the owners of the LARC at that time, Des and Betty Merguard who worked alongside them in using their LARC to transport much needed materials and equipment up the steep track to the lighthouse.

If it wasn't for Stuart's grit and determination, the 152 year old Bustard Head Light house station would be no more.  The lighthouse itself would be still standing on the point flashing out it's warning to passing ships, but the two cottages which housed the lightkeepers and their wives, kids and helpers and the four work sheds would have been demolished and the ground once more covered with scrub.

When the lighthouses became automatic in the 80s and stations were de-manned around Australia, something had to give.  In the case of Bustard Head, it was theft and absolutely destructive vandalism that eventually destroyed the station.  The cottages, and sheds were wrecked, with walls, roofs and floors smashed and anything of value, like the stainless steel guttering and beautiful rosewood doors were stolen. 

Stuart and Shirley had seen the destruction growing as they sailed their boat Pluto up the Queensland coast in the 90s and by the late 1990's Stuart decided that he was going to restore the station to its original condition even though authorities had decided to clear the station of the wreckage and leave it to nature to take over. 

It took Stuart several years to fight bureaucrats and the system before he finally gained permission for restoration.  When permission finally came, it took him three years to rebuild the station to better than it's former glory.  He did it all for nothing, working daylight till dark seven days a week.    His wife Shirely even put $`130,000 of her own money into the restoration, which I believe she never fully recovered...

The Lightstation these days is manned purely from volunteers who spend at least a month up here at anyone time.  Initially Stuart and his wife Shirley would spend three to four months a year volunteering especially during summer when others were not so keen.  It is not an easy job especially in Summer as there are a couple of hectares of lawn which needs mowing, two cottages and four worksheds to maintain and a small cemetery to keep clean. 

Part of the caretaker's job is to conduct tours through the great museum Stuart established in the front cottage (click on video above). 1770 Environmental Tours' LARCs usually bring tourists up three times a week, more in school holidays, and tourists pay $6 a head to be taken through the museum.

That's the only income the Bustard Head Lighthouse Association gets to maintain the whole station and under Stuart's astute - and tough - direction it just covers the annual costs.

The tour through the cottage museum was both very interesting and very informatative, and our guide really gave us a strong feel for what life would have been like living here.  Back in the days that lighthouse keepers lived here there was no modern technology like the internet, so it was a pretty isolated and lonely existance for those doing this job.  

Not only has the place been beauitfully restored and the whole museum was emaculate.  Everything was so clean and tidy and everything just shone,  The brass was polished, windows crystal clear and you can tell that the volunteers are very proud of this place.

The flowers were all in bloom whilst we were there also and it was lovely to see them in all their splendor. 

After our tour through the Museum, we were broken up into two different groups and whilst the first group climbed to the top of the lighthouse with Kev our tour guide, the rest of us looked through the display in one of the sheds situated next to the Lighthouse.  This display was more about the rebuilding of the Lighthouse precinct.

 

The Lighthouse Staion now generates it's own solar electricity

The lighthouse door...

Checking out the display in one of the sheds...

My now the first group had come down out of the Lighthouse and it was our turn to climb the stairs.  Our LARC skipper Kev took us up the spiralling stairs to the balcony of the lighthouse tower. 

 

 

 

The lighthouse at Bustard Head has a full set of signal flags.  These signal flags are used at sea for communication between ships.  Each flag represents a letter of the alphabet, almost like it is a predecessor of today's instant messaging system.  The flags can spell out short messages, and individual flags and combinations of the flags also have special meanings.   These signal flags can also be used to "dress"ships during celebrations. 

 

The climb to the top of the lighthouse was by a narrow winding staircase, but well worth the climb to enjoy and appreciate the magnificent views from the top deck..

We were intrigued by the massive lens and the original clockwork machinery used for rotating the lens, which was on display in the Lighthouse itself.  The machinery is driven by heavy weights and chain that descended through the centre of the tower.  Every two hours without fail during the night, the lighthouse keeper had to turn the crank handle to wind the weight back up to the lantern floor ensureing the safe passage of passing ships. 

 

 

From the top there was a magnificent unmarred 360 degree view.  It was absolutely stunning.  We have done a few lighthouse climbs both here and overseas and I must admit, this experience at Bustard Head was by far the best.  The only other one that might have come close in regards to views was Lyndernes Lighthouse in Norway...

Views from the top of the Lighthouse.

 

 

Once we had all been though the lighthouse our tour guide Kev then led us down the winding path to say hello to past occupants at the cemetery - many of which had terrible fates.  The cemetery has been loving restored which was lovely to see as on our last visit they were just a bunch of tombstones rotting in the overgrowth on the headlands.  

Heading down to see the cemetery...

Bustard Head Lighthouse does have a reputation of being the lighthouse of horror as some very disturbing and tragic events happened here over the years..  It has always been marked by tragedy.  It's first victim was a workman who suffered a blow to his head during the lighthouse's construction and died the next day.

His passing was followed by shipwrecks, drownings, an abduction, a murder, and Kate Gibson's suicide and several other freak deaths.

Back in 1887 Kate Gibson the wife of one of the Lighthouse keepers was found with her throat slit from ear to ear, and she's not the only soul to have died at this eerie Aussie Lighthouse.

 There was nothing at Bustard Heads except the lighthouse, and the nearest settlement was 15kms away.  When Kate didn't come back, her four daughters launched a desperate search.  One of the girls, a 19 year old called Annie, made the gruesome discovery.  Kate was lying in a pool of dried blood, with an arm folder across her chest and that horrible gaping wound across her neck.  What an awesome sight for her poor daughter. 

Her husband Nils, who returned from a trip to the northwest to learn of his wife's disappearance realised one of his razors was missing from the family's cottage.  Days later it was found under a tree root at the site of the body covered in blood.  

Kate's death was ruled a suicide, and she was buried in the cemetery at Bustard Head.  There is no lack of company for her in the graveyard.  Few have lived at the lightstation, but a disturbingly high number of people have died there. 

The Gibson family had a bad time at Bustard Head.  Almost two years after Kate's death, Nils, his 20 year old daughter Mary, assistant lightkeeper John Wilkinson, his wife Elizabeth and a repairman named Alfred Power set off from Bustard Head on a sailboat.  They didn't make it far. 

As the boat powered 450m clear of shore, it capsized throwing everyone into the water.  Alfred, Elizabeth and Mary all drowned.  Nils who managed to make it back to land never found his daughter's body

 

 

1n 1898 a one year old girl called Milly Waye was scalded with boiling water by acident.  The infact suffered "excruciating pain" for nine hours before she finally died.  Milly was born at the lightstation,  She never had the chance to leave it. 

 

 Then there was the case of the Murder/Abduction.  An 18 year old boy called George Daniels was accused of murder and kidnapping in 1912. 

 George had become entangled in a love triangle with Edith Anderson, the Bustard Head lightkeeper's daughter and Arthyr Cozgell, a 32 year old man whose father owned a nearby cattle station.

 Arthur and Edith were riding towards Bustard Head together on Sunday 11th February when someone attacked them.  The assailant shot Arthur and abducted Edith.  Before he died, Arthur identified the attacker as "that black bugger"... George".  Other evidence including a series of "goodbye" letters written by George himself, confirmed Arthur's account.  

The authorities launched a long and well-resourced search for George and Edith (it was the most expensive police search in Queensland's history at the time), but they were never found.

Several weeks after Eith was adducted, another of the lighthouse keeper's daughters, 21 year old Ethel died after suffereing an epileptic fit.

Nils Gibson was killed by cirrhosis of the liver six years after losing his daughter Mary.

Nils Gibson was killed by cirrhosis of the liver six years after losing his daughter, Mary.

 

 Another infant, seven month old Henry Phillips died from "constitutional weakness"... whatever that means. 

 There were other tragedies as well.  In the station's early days, at least three ships were wrecked nearby.  More boats capsized, leading to the deaths of workers en route to the lighthouse.

After we had explored the skeletons in the stations closet by way of our  visit to the cemetery it was time to reboard the LARC and head back down the headland to the shaded picnic spot right on the edge of Jenny Lind Creek for a healthy lunch prepared by the great staff at the 1770 Marina cafe.

Our LARC for the day..

I must admit the views going back down the track were absolutely spectacular as you looked right down along the coast line.  Amazing.  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Lunch was delicious and was followed by a cup of their secret recipe freshly brewedBilly tea.  In all we had about forty minutes to enjoy our lunch break.  There was also an opportunity to eplore a quick forest walk, visit the Loo before boarding the LARC again to cross the incredible Jenny Lind Creek.

Ready for our lunch break...

Our destination after crossing the creek were the towering dunes of Middle Island.  It's the only place where it's completely fine to push your friends and family down a 35metre hill )on a boogie board or course) and call it sandboarding.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Heading up for another go at it...

Just look at that determination....

 

Lots of fun was had by those who were brave enough or exhausted enough from the calf muscle workout climbing the dune to sand board down.  It couldn't have been too bad as most of them made mulitple trips up the sand dune to slide right back down again.

It all ended way too soon and it was then time to reboard the LARC ready for the return journey.. 

Heading back along the beach to the Marina...

The day is really topped off with all the widlife sightings and light hearted local stories that Kev shared with us along our way back.

Kev did a few little tricks with some coins he had to entertain us.

Kev was very knowledgable about the bird life in the area...

A pair of Pied Oystercatchers

The first birds we came across on our way home were the Pied Oystercatchers.   These particular birds are native to Australia and live along our coast lines. They are generally seen in pairs and despite their name, they rarely eat oysters.   Nearly all of these species of oystercatchers are monogamous and they are territorial during the breading season with quite a few of them defending their territories from year to year.

They are quite a large bird with a vibrant orange beak.

Lots of Gulls.

There were some pretty impressive boats moored as we came back towards the Marina.  

Well I would have to say that although this day trip might seem at little expensive at $159, it was worth every cent and great value for money.  Would highly recommend it to anyone paying a visit to the Town of 1770.  We've loved our day.  Lots of happy memories came flooding back of our previous trips on the LARC with Des and Betty when they would take a group of us with all our SU Campers up to Jenny Lind, but they have done SO MUCH work up there in the past twenty years and I can see why they now win tourist awards.  

When we arrived back we met up with the group that were heading out for the sunset cruise.  After waving them off we indulged in a later afternoon tea enjoying more of the wonderful vanilla slice that the Cafe at 1770 is renowned for.  It was the perfect way to end an absolute perfect day.

Afternoon Tea at the Marina after a fabulous day out on the LARC

We had a pretty quite evening in this evening, as we had been up early and were feeling rather tired from our full day outdoors today.  More awaits us tomorrow..