Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

cliff edges. A couple of exciting hours beckon.
At first the track buries itself in bush, but when the views return, they really
return. The cape looms larger with every break in the bush, and the ocean swarms
ashore in white fury around the black rock of the cliffs. By the time I return along
the track the next morning, after heavy overnight rain, these dry cliffs will be
pouring with waterfalls. Is it any wonder there are now helicopters buzzing about,
gawking like me at this spectacular tentacle of land?
“Nothing has prepared me for the curtains to pull back on a scene quite
like this”
SHINING LIGHT
Cape Brett Lighthouse was first illuminated in 1910, and remained a working
lighthouse until 1978, with the light from its 40ft-high (12m) station shining almost
32 miles (50km) out to sea. Three men originally staffed it, with a school for the
lighthouse-keepers’ children on the cape. Conditions were harsh, perhaps best
evidenced by a storm in 1951, when a keeper reported waves crashing on to the
roof of the cottage (now the hut for hikers), which stands a full 141ft (43m) above
the sea.
The trail climbs on and on, a protective handrail briefly testifying to the sudden
sense of exposure as the land tumbles away 650ft (200m) either side into the sea.
And then, suddenly below me, is the lighthouse and, just offshore, the island that
forms the Bay of Islands’ most famous attraction, the Hole in the Rock, its cave
hidden from view by the angle.
Beside the lighthouse I indulge in a moment of self-congratulatory pride...I have
made it. But it’s at that moment that I spy a red roof far below – the old lighthousekeeper’s
cottage, now converted into a hikers’ hut, where I will spend tonight,
around 500ft (150m) lower down the slopes. I don’t even want to think about the
climb back out the next morning, and I’m certainly not the first to be intimidated by
this hill.