Rodney Campbell's Blog

Today we decided to take the long drive out to Cape Borda Lighthouse. Cape Borda is a headland located on the north west tip of Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

Sinuous Expressions

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm, 1/50 sec at f/7.1, ISO 160

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

On the drive there we took the Shackle Road between the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre and Cape Borda.

Though we didn’t stop at most of the places along the way we basically followed the Shackle Road Self-Guided Drive.

It’s rough dirt road for the whole trip and it’s quite long so the girls didn’t really enjoy the trip itself.

One place we did stop at on the way was a place called Harveys Return just off the road out to Cape Borda.

Reptiles Return

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

It’s a steep (very very steep – almost cliff like) but rewarding hike (1 kilometre return) to the tiny cove originally known as Murrells Landing.

In 1834 the cove became known as Harveys Return and it is the nearest landing site to Cape Borda Lightstation. Much of the material used to build the lighthouse was landed at Harveys Return in 1858. In 1859 provision was made for a double track and trolleys down the steep incline with a horse-drawn winch near the top.

The sea to land transfer of goods continued to be a dangerous and hazardous affair, until the site was finally abandoned around 1928. Relics of the landing apparatus are still visible today, including the base of a derrick crane that was erected atop a rocky platform in 1923, with an additional connecting rail.

At the cove at the bottom there’s a little sand beach surrounded by high cliffs of amazing coloured rock formations. The shapes of the rocks are all twisted and amazing and then many of the rocks themselves are striped within.

The girls enjoying themselves exploring the amazing rocks.

Harveys Return

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

Yay

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/80 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

Spectacular outcrops of tightly folded, thinly bedded schists (known as zebra schists due to its bands of colours) can be seen at the base of the cliffs. A 400 metre section of this coastline has been designated as a “geological monument” by the Geological Society of Australia.

Zebra Schist

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/80 sec at f/8, ISO 360

And as if the amazing rocks weren’t enough we again had the fantastic golden orange lichen and colourful plants as well. A cornucopia of colours and textures.

Contrasts

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm, 1/50 sec at f/8, ISO 200

The Cape Borda Lighthouse is the only square stone lighthouse in South Australia and apparently is technically the only “real” lighthouse left on the island (all the others have been converted to automated beacons). Because the headland here is so high the lighthouse itself had to be built quite squat and low so that it wouldn’t be too high above the sea.

Cape Borda Lightstation

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 100

We went on the lightstation tour here which was very good – our guide was fantastic. And because we went on the 12.30PM tour (we’d planned it this way) we also got to see (and hear) the cannon firing :).

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