It happens every year in August, on the third Sunday of the month.  It’s a day that looks at one structure type and that’s the Lighthouse.

That day is called International Lighthouse day and here in the Shoalhaven we have a pretty good one, Point Perpendicular Lighthouse.

The International Association of Lighthouse keepers, which I am imagining to be the better looking bunch of old men who avoided being bell keepers in large cathedrals (think hunch backs), are organising the whole thing.

I am pretty sure it’s not a competition, but I reckon we may have the best lighthouse in the world, so I’ve gotten the famous ones together and ours, so we can compare. 

Point Perpendicular Lighthouse In The Shoalhaven

Point Perpendicular Lighthouse is located on the northern headland at the entrance to Jervis Bay the lighthouse and its adjoining keepers houses were built in 1889 and operated until 1993, when the original light was replaced with an automated facility.

The 9 beams on the beacon are so powerful they can be seen 26 nautical miles to sea.

The lighthouse is located at the end of the Beecroft Weapons Range road, south of the Currarong village.

The Department of Defence has just undertaken a major structural refurbishment of the lighthouse, which took six months to complete.

Ian Clifford from Lighthouses Australia says it will be a rare chance to see one of the nation's most historic lights back at its brilliant best.

Point Vicente Lighthouse, Palos Verdes, California

Point Vicente Lighthouse was built in 1926 on Palos Verdes Peninsula in California.  It is one of many lighthouses along the coast, but the only one to be on the list National Register of Historic Places.

It’s big and white and looks pretty much like a Lighthouse (Some would call that a classic look, I would say boring).

So I am going to Say Point Perpendicular has one up on Pont Vicente Lighthouse, simply because I like the castley bits it has.

St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, England

“St. Mary's Lighthouse is on the tiny St. Mary's Island, just north of Whitley Bay on the coast of North East England. The small rocky tidal island is linked to the mainland by a short concrete causeway which is submerged at periods of high tide.” From Wikipedia

So this one is pretty awesome.  And it’s massive, It’s 38 metres tall (like 16 stories?) and was built ages ago (in 1898).  Also it has three quarters of a million bricks (750,000 for those who like numbers).

So yeah that’s not easy to beat.  But there is one problem with this lighthouse.  It took me many many minuets of Googling to find a flaw.  This is not really a lighthouse it is a small museum and a cafe. It no longer has any light /sad face.  It was decommissioned as an actual working building and now is for tourists, so it’s a really really awesome small museum and cafe… but not a lighthouse. 

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, North Carolina

“Cape Hatteras Light is a lighthouse located on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina near the community of Buxton, and is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.” From Wikipedia

Whoa, we’re in trouble here.  This is either a realy funky lighthouse or a massive barber shop.  And after reading the above passage you’d be pretty sure it’s not the latter. 

It comes down to this: we have a simple lighthouse painted pretty well.  And pulling out a reason to rate this lower then Point perpendicular Lighthouse, because well, that’s what I’m doing here.  I am going to say that yes this is very cool, but if you painted our lighthouse like this then we’d have a better lighthouse.

See exhibit A (and my awesome effort using photoshop, took me like an hour):

So all in all it’s definitely a win for Point Perpendicular!

[If you really like lighthouses read some more at www.lighthouse.net.au]