This is Tacking Point Lighthouse at Tacking Point on Lighthouse Beach, Port Macquarie, New South Wales. It's a very ordinary photo because it's now a very ordinary lighthouse to visit. It does not need to to be that way. The lighthouse is a very nice example of colonial architecture of the period. It was built in 1879 and is the thirteenth oldest lighthouse in Australia and this is quite a distinction as there are over 400 lighthouses on the coast of Australia.
The problem for the unfortunate Tacking Point lighthouse is that it is in Port Macquarie and its location is just too accessible and the local council seeing its popularity with the thousands of visitors decided to improve the access to the lighthouse itself. So now there is a road, nearly upto the lighthouse, with a small car park and two sets of steps upto the lighthouse, one complete with a stainless steel handrail. Also there is a hard base surrounding the lighhouse. The result is very clinical. It's almost as if the lighthouse is just a piece of street furniture. It needs to show its character. Climbing up to reach it should be an effort. Not a stroll in the park. Despite this the setting is still magnificent.
Photo below the lighthouse from the air-taken from a float plane-Leica X1. Photo taken before the latest "improvements" completed.
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