2 Best Sights in North Coast, New South Wales

The most powerful beacon on the Australian coastline, Cape Byron Lighthouse dominates the southern end of the beach at Byron Bay and attracts huge numbers of visitors, who want to tick standing at Australia's most easterly point off their bucket list. You can tour the lighthouse (no children under five) daily from 10 am, with the last tour departing at 3 pm. The tours are led by volunteers, and there's $8 entry fee. Whale-watching is popular between June and September, when migrating humpback whales come close to shore. Dolphins swim in these waters year-round, and you can often see pods of them from the cape. You can stay in either of the two six-person assistant lightkeeper's cottages for A$360 a night in low season; prices rise from mid-December to late January and a two-week period over Easter (book well in advance during this period). There's a three-night minimum stay.

A Newcastle landmark, Nobby's Lighthouse (on Nobby's Headland) was the third to be built in New South Wales when it opened in 1854. It's at the end of a long narrow spit (a longshore drift) and is accessed by a nearly 1-km (½-mile) path. Before it was converted to electricity in 1935, the original 20,000-candle light was tended by three keepers. The grounds of the lighthouse, and one of the lightkeeper's cottages, are open Sunday 10–4. It's a terrific vantage point for avid photographers.