When we arrive at Point Look you can't help but notice the blue crystal clear water, which is to be seen in all directions. We travel around the Coastal Road to some of the best vantage points for the viewing of the annual migration of the Humpback whales. These whales travel North for their breeding season only to return a few months later with their calves for the return trip to the colder Southern waters. The Experience of seeing these magnificent animals in their natural environment cannot be missed.
It is truly Wonderful!
The Picture listed is of the North Gorge. This is an area where you can see our big Manta rays and Dolphins playing in the waves before heading out to sea to hunt for their food. This area is semi protected by the prevailing winds.
The wreck of the Prosperity, Point Lookout.
Portions of the 133 ton brigantine "Prosperity", wrecked southeast of Point Lookout in1902, came to rest in South Gorge. Rusted pieces of the machinery cargo she carried can be seen wedged in the rocks when the sea is calm. Billy North who had several stockman's huts at the head of South Gorge, provided food and shelter for the survivors of the Prosperity. Billy North also ran cattle on the Island, to fulfil a contract to supply meat to the Dunwich Benevolent Institution. The cattle were swum across from Southport and walked up the Island. He built a cattle dip at Point Lookout. Having been constructed in 1895, it is the oldest European structure at Point Lookout.
Point Lookout Lighthouse
Despite the fact that a lighthouse was recommended for Point Lookout in 1825, it wasn't until 1932 and many shipwrecks later that construction actually began. Building construction materials and cylinders were landed onto a pontoon at Cylinder Beach. Actually Cylinder Beach was named after the acetylene cylinders used to run the lighthouse which were kept in a small storage hut in the corner of the beach. The first recorded contact between Stradbroke Aborigines and Europeans occurred at Cylinder Beach in 1803, when Matthew Flinders sent some men ashore to fill water barrels. The Aborigines filled their containers from a spring just above the beach. Travelling south along the coastline until we reach the North Gorge, there is a commemorative seat we call "Cook's Seat". It is to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Cook's sighting of Point Lookout. Point Lookout was named by Europeans when in 1770, Captain Cook recorded in his log the sighting and bearing of a rocky headland jutting out into the Pacific Ocean, which he named Point Look-out as a warning to other Mariners. The Seat contains a Time capsule. This is the spot we commence the very scenic Gorge Walk.
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