Trial Bay Gaol, Smoky Lighthouse and Beaches of South West Rocks

South West Rocks sits right on the Northern end of Arakoon National Park, which features apart from marvelous beaches, Trial Bay Gaol, a former prison, and Smoky Lighthouse.  The town itself comes in handy as most of the amenities are in walking distance within the old part of the town.

The Gaol at Trial Bay

Originally built as a prison to host prison-workers to build a breakwater, which the water actually broke bar a few remaining meters, it became a PoW camp for German descendants, who lived in Australia during Word War 1.

Today, it’s home for a herd of roos, which rove around in the shadows of the high prison walls. One of them laughed at the tourists, who strolled the tall walls in the middle of a hot Australian summer day.

 

The Lighthouse at Smoky Cape

The Gaol felt like a baking-house during the heat of the day. But no, it was not time for the beach yet. First there needs to be some exercise. And there is no better work-out than pushing up the pram a steep maintenance road of a lighthouse.

The return you get when you made it – the breathtaking views – are worth the effort. – And after the lighthouse, we finally went to Trail Bay Beach, which is one of the best beaches to hang out in the water. The beach is north-west facing, so it’s protected from the swell most of the time and it’s relatively shallow.

After the beach we went to dinner in town and then got prepared for leaving South West Rocks bound to Tuncurry/Forster and the Booti Booti and Myall Lakes National Parks.