Hello everyone! This is Cockatoo(
It seems common for Australians to take at least two long weeks off before and after Christmas to go on road trips or overseas trips with their families or acquaintances, or for immigrants like me to stay in their own country for a while. Again, I took more than two weeks off this time and I decided to go camping with my family to an island called "Cocato Island." Since it's literally an island, you can take a ferry to get there and there's no admission fee unless you're staying.
You can not only camping but also glamping here. And you can rent a house or an apartment to stay in. The camping site is also equipped with a variety of amenities such as barbecue facilities, refrigerators, microwaves, cold and hot water drinking fountains, and shower rooms.
Location of Cockatoo Island
Cockatoo Island NSW Australia
Online Reservation
At first we were supposed to go glamping. Sadly, however, we decided to go camping to rent a camp site because all reservations were already full.
It was really hard to get to the island with all the luggage, including the camping equipment, because it was impossible to get there with a car.
As soon as you get off the ship, you will find a building with an island guide map right in front of you.
Inside the building, there are lockers where you can leave your luggage.
The locker supports a variety of languages.
Cockatoo Island is also listed in UNESCO for its universal value as a world heritage.
Since check-in time is from 2pm., we have some spare time, so we decided to look around. Tents of various sizes were set up with number tags attatched.
There are cooking barbecue facilities, microwaves, and other appliances nearby, so you can store your food easily and safely and cook any time. The cleanliness was generally clean.
This is another indoor cooking area.
It's a shower facility nearby.
If you walk down from the kitchen, you can see the campfire facility.
And as it was used as a shipyard in the past, buildings like a factory and facilities to build ships were preserved well. So it's as if the whole island is exhibiting antiques.
Hmm? There's something written in Chinese, not English, on the back of this ship. I can't explain it as I don't know Chinese characters well. I'm sorry about that. :)
I took a picture of this tunnel because its name was funny.
The picture below shows a turbine manufacturing plant.
At first, I thought there would be a lot of cockatoos like the name of the island, but I didn't see any of them, and I saw only a bunch of gulls. Maybe it would be better called the Seagull Island. Haha
By the way, one of my daughters got into a fight with a seagull.
When I got close to what was going on, there was another female seagull laying eggs inside some machine equipment.
It was a rare sight for me as I've never seen a gull so close to it. The egg-laying one judged us as intruders, and twittered loud with feeling of wariness.
There were also other gulls' nests and eggs everywhere. I was really curious about the taste of the gull-egg fry, but I walked on my way with patience. lol
Even the baby gulls who couldn't fly were walking around fearlessly. Fortunately, it didn't stand out very well in their protective color.
I thought I wouldn't be able to see such a precious sight if people hadn't been willing to protect these wild animals.
It is also said that the island was used not only as a shipyard but also as a notorious prison for detaining convicts. Adolescent and female prisoners were mostly behind bars here.
The path to the building where the convicts were taken into custody is directed up the hill as shown in the picture.
The buildings used as prisons appeared one by one, and each one had identification tags for tourists. As you go into the street, the old buildings are getting grotesque and spooky. Maybe that's why they do ghost tours around here at night.
The place below was used as a solitary confinement to punish hardened criminals. It was so narrow and dark, and so hot that it was even stuffy.
The way down from the prisoner's building was a narrow, slightly dizzying passage.
On the way down, we found a large hole in the middle of the left wall, which was used as a food warehouse to prepare for the drought.
If you go down that narrow passage, you'll find this wonderful viewing point. The Sydney City skyscrapers and the blue sea from afar were spectacular.
If you leave the narrow passage and follow a path to the hill, you will see a large building on the highest point on the island. This building is called Biloela House, The home of the Superintendent for the family of Charles Ormsby who was the first supervisor of the prison, which was built by convicts around 1800. But it is now open to the public for display.
As entering the building, historical photographs for the island were displayed in each room. And on the other side, there was a black-and-white audiovisual room.
When I left the building and looked at the sky, the sun had already fallen and the sunset was reddening the sky.
Another reason why the island is so popular is because of the evening cinema. This time, it screened the children's movie, "Peter Pan." My kids really liked it. Cinema seats were also filled with single-person couches that let you lie down comfortably. Thanks to this event, I could take a break for a while. Hahaha
I could return to the innocence of childhood for a while thanks to this movie.
So far, I've introduced you to Cockatoo Island. Not only was it a fun camping experience for me, but it was also a rewarding time to study Australian history. If you are planning a camping trip near the city, be it lovers or family, I would recommend here Cockatoo Island.
By Cockatoo from Australia
