Stepping onto the rickety balcony of the lighthouse at Cape Willoughby, on South Australia's Kangaroo Island, it is hard not to look down, despite being buffeted by the wild sea winds. Far below are the lighthouse keepers' cottages and beyond the craggy shoreline lie the blue waters of the Backstairs Passage, a strip between Kangaroo Island and the mainland that has witnessed many shipwrecks.
'In 1850, they dropped 18 men here with tools and plans,' explains the guide, 'and told them to build a lighthouse out of local materials.' Even though they had to build it with hand-hewn granite, Australia's first lighthouse was operating by 1852.
Life for early keepers and their families was harsh and isolated; the original cottages were some distance from the lighthouse, making for a long walk at night in the frequent gale force winds and driving rain. It was 1927 before new ones, closer to the light, were built. These are now heritage accommodation. Seymour Cottage has a library and plenty of space, sleeping up to eight people, with rooms leading off on both sides from a central hallway, as was the style in Australia back then.
At sunset, a big old kangaroo appears near the lighthouse, his muscular frame an impressive picture of strength. But when British navigator Matthew Flinders named Kangaroo Island in 1802, he did not do so as an eco-tourist - rather as someone rejoicing at finding a supply of fresh meat.
At Seal Bay, westwards along the southern coast from Cape Willoughby, park rangers lead tours of the sea lion colony on the beach, a highlight of any visit. Large bulls survey the crowd warily as they slide down the sand towards the shoreline, while mothers, known as cows, rest after fishing trips and their pups frolic in the shallows.
The next lighthouse sits at the island's southwest tip: Cape du Couedic. Made from beige-coloured local sandstone with a red-painted top, the tower was completed in 1909 and is the most beautiful on the island, though whether that provided consolation for keepers and their families in a spot so isolated it was originally inaccessible by land is doubtful.