tiabunna's photos with the keyword: Montague Island

A Silver Gull and its chicks at Montague Island. They nest among the thick vegetation.

Looking south from the top platform of the lighthouse on Montague Island. HFF and have a great weekend, everyone. Explored.

A rather abstract view of the Crested Tern colony at Montague Island, looking down more or less vertically from the lighthouse. Granite rock to the right. Explored.

The view from the Montague Island lighthouse. This stitched panorama looks north across the island and shows the two different types of geology - granite nearby and basalt on the more distant section. The tern colony (previous images) is visible on the adjacent rocky areas. Definitely one to view large. HFF and have a great weekend, everyone.

Crested Terns ( Sterna bergii ) flying back to their chicks with freshly caught fish (see also PiP). Here's my musical link. Explored.

Crested Tern ( Sterna bergii ) and chick at Montague Island. This species of tern is found around the Australian coast. View large. I hope I'll be excused for this musical link. :-) Explored.

Colony of Crested Terns ( Sterna bergii ) at Montague Island. View large.

With the change of the Montague Island lighthouse to automatic operation (and a halogen lamp), it also was changed to solar power (panels at left). The light has a range of 20 nautical miles (about 40km) and the 21 metre tower is 80 metres above sea level. More details with the other images (also shown in the PiPs). View large. Explored.

Showing when the lighthouse was completed. Back in the 1800s, Australia was still a British colony with Queen Victoria on the throne. It seems to have been almost mandatory to add VR (Victoria Regina) to all manner of buildings at the time. This does show the excellent quality of the stonemasonry in the lighthouse: amazing to think it was all done on site, from quarrying to completion.

This was one of the granite boulders quarried to provide the rock for construction of the lighthouse. Back in the 1800s, that work would all have been done by hand - no power tools! One of the original drill holes can be seen toward the left of the boulder.

Montague Island lighthouse, seen from the former light keepers' houses. The lighthouse and buildings are now listed on the Register of the National Estate. HFF everyone. Explored.

Australian Fur Seals were almost wiped out in the 1800s for the fashion of wearing fur. They now are protected and numbers are recovering. Their territory is confined to the south eastern coasts of Australia, where they gather in harems in the breeding season (see PiP) - these are at Montague Island.

The boat on which we were travelling was accompanied for part of the voyage by a pod of dolphins. If we had made the trip earlier in the season, we would have expected to see whales heading south to the Antarctic. Explored.

On a boat heading for Montague Island, the second largest island (after Lord Howe Island) off the coast of New South Wales. It is now a National Park and the old lighthouse (still working) is National Heritage listed. HFF, everyone. Explored.