What would it be like to camp at Cape Foulwind, we wondered? It sounded a bit like being at the ends of the earth to us. As it probably did to Captain James Cook, who named it after battling heavy seas in March 1770. The Cape Foulwind lighthouse was just a short drive away, and then an easy walk took us to the top. The original lighthouse was a fine timber building, built in 1876. Its shining beacon guided vessels for 50 years, and the lighthouse keeper and assistants lived in houses nearby.
This was replaced 50 years later with the current concrete automated lighthouse. Perfectly functional, no doubt, but not nearly as attractive.
Our campsite is a POP, a nice grassy area adjacent to the Star Tavern.
Around the edges of the land is a collection of all types of used building materials, roofing iron, old bricks, railway sleepers and assorted bits of machinery. Plus the largest woodpile in existence, I reckon. Robin and Derek felt like a workout in the morning and split some logs all ready for our host to burn in the bar room fireplace.
We wandered over to the pub for 4zees, after all, if we are camping on the publican’s property, it’s only fitting that we visit his bar. The bar was decorated in a very interesting style - assorted denominations of paper notes were pinned to the ceiling. Lost your cap recently? It’s quite likely that it has joined this collection in the corner of the bar.
And my favourite was the boys from Bluff, a group of fishermen, plus a dog, baring their all for the good of the community.
We’re happy to report that the wind wasn’t too “foul” at all during our stay in these parts. A little breezy, to be sure, but we are on the coast after all. It’s quite a different story during the winter storms, we’ve been told.
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