‘Get out of the city. If you can, when you have the chance, get away from the city and dive into the ocean at dusk. Spend your Saturday night talking with a best friend, with nowhere else to be, until you’re too tired to speak and you fall asleep with so much more to say. Wake up to the sound of birdsong and of waves crashing against the rocks. Watch whales breach and blow ocean into the sky and rainbow lorikeets dance between the trees.’
That’s what I wrote in my journal on Sunday morning, the first morning I spent at Norah Head. I made a big pot of coffee and took a blanket onto the verandah that looks out onto the ocean from the south-east side of the peninsula. We were just over an hour from Sydney’s CBD, but the buzz of the city felt like a world away. Though I spend probably one out of four weekends outside of Sydney, the calming effect of time spent in the countryside always feels like a ground-breaking revelation. Like an evangelical message I'm compelled to preach to anyone willing to listen (my own personal, non-sentient diary included).
We’d arrived just before sunset the night before, and the evening sky was a picture-perfect palette of pastel pink and baby blue. On the edge of the cliff, the cartoonish silhouette of the lighthouse was etched in Tic Tac white against fairy floss and sherbet. We dropped our bags in the cottage and ran out onto the reserve to watch the lantern blink on, the way it has for more than a century. When the lighthouse first opened in 1903, it was illuminated by a kerosene lamp and a clockwork, lead weight pulley system. Back then, before electricity kept the light working and the platform spinning on a reliable 15-second rotation, a lighthouse keeper was required to be on duty at all times. “Must be male, married and short,” the sign in the lighthouse reads, like a perverse dating profile. Now, though just as vital for keeping ships safe off the NSW shore (it’s still operational, and its different coloured lights are still used for navigation by the boats that punctuate the horizon), the lighthouse is now automated, and the lighthouse keepers’ cottages are rented out to people like us who need to be reminded (again) about the importance of slowing down.
There are a lot of beautiful places to stay when you need a break from Sydney (we recently published a round-up of the most wishlisted Airbnbs in NSW, and another list of top two-night getaways), but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more magical, historic stay so close to the city.
Set within the lighthouse grounds, with views of the ocean to the north and south-east, you’ll find three cottages to choose from at Norah Head. The closest cottage to the lighthouse is the head keeper’s cottage, home to larger living spaces and a larger wraparound verandah than the two assistant keepers’ cottages. Each cottage sleeps nine people, so if you plan ahead, you could book out the whole thing for a group of 27 friends.
The interiors are simple but thoughtful, and perfectly sympathetic to the setting: all wooden floorboards, neutral tones and carefully curated artworks. Super comfy beds are framed by warm china lamps, and big sash windows frame the carefully kept gardens, white picket fences and the ocean beyond. Kitchens are well-equipped with everything you need, and there are tables outside in both the back and front gardens so you can eat alfresco no matter which way the wind is blowing.
Guests at the cottages can join tours of the lighthouse for free, so after a slow morning soaking up the sun, we climbed the 96 stairs to the top of the tower and looked out across the cliffs. To stand inside such an old, important building, and watch the cogs turn beneath a huge, diamond-like lantern, feels incredibly special. My friend, who has watched upwards of nine lighthouse-related documentaries this year alone, was brought to tears.
After our tour up the tower, we took the wooden stairs down to Norah Head rock platform and picked our way along the coast to Lifeboat Beach. We went for another afternoon swim at Norah Head rockpool (on the opposite side of the peninsula), then made a round of Spritzes and took them out onto the reserve to watch the sunset turn the lighthouse golden. Our fellow guests (a group of girlfriends celebrating Christmas in July) had the same idea, and we all clinked glasses and wished each other a merry Christmas as we made our way back to our homes for dinner.
As we were leaving the following day, my friend mentioned how unique it is to spend a weekend away entirely settled in one spot. With so much to see and do in the Central Coast, it might have been tempting to get into the car and explore the area, but at the lighthouse that felt totally unnecessary. For a nature fix, trace the bush track along the clifftop, and if you’re craving a surf, carry your board down the steps and you’ll be at a beautifully surfable beach within fifteen minutes. For a dose of culture, step out onto the grass and gaze up at the heritage-listed lighthouse that has stood tall and powerful on the headland for more than a century.
You can learn more and book via Reflections Holidays – over here.
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