The Amazing Outer Banks

What an interesting place the Outer Banks are in North Carolina: even having read about the area, we did not expect what it was, and we have really never seen anything like it. These narrow barrier islands stretch for 100 miles south, joined together by bridges or ferries. For much of the drive, you can see the ocean on one side, and the sound on the other, so narrow is this ultralong spit. The banks are very quiet for the months from October to March, and there are miles of empty beach houses which are rented for the summer, including some very up-market ones, which we assume are family beach houses, and not rented out.

Most of these houses however are huge, 4 times the size of our modest terrace in Sydney. It is quite strange to see almost all of these houses empty! Collectively, they resemble an alien landscape, especially where sand seems to be engulfing them as they sit neglected over winter (photo). Driveways and even whole streets have been taken over by blowing sand dunes. With a strong wind blowing, and a decent Altantic surf raging very close to the houses, the whole area looks very vulnerable. They must worry about global warming here!

Most of the shops and restaurants are closed, but we don't think we would like it here in the peak season, it must be wall to wall people and cars.

We spent a lot of time at the Wright Brothers memorial at Kitty Hawk (actually at Kill Devil Hills), the exact spot where the brothers Orville and Wilbur, first flew their aircraft, in the early 1900s. As usual in the USA, the memorial was really well done, you can see the markers where the 4 successful flights took off and landed. There is also a great National Monument there to honor early aviators. Photo shows a sculpture representing the take off of the first flight. Our camera is balanced on the photographer's shoulder!

We looked at two of the significant lighthouses of the North Carolina Atlantic Coast, Bodie Island and Cape Hatteras. The latter was actually moved in 1999 a distance of about a quarter of a mile, on rails, as it was in danger of being washed away by the encroaching seas. Quite a feat! (Photo shows original and current sites.) This coast is all beach and sand dunes and no rocky cliffs, so the lighthouses had to be built on quite insecure foundations.

To get to the Outer Banks from our previous destination, we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a marvel of engineering, consisting of a bridges, two tunnels under the water (to allow heavy shipping through), 4 islands and a series of causeways. It goes for 20 miles, and was finished in the early 1960's. As we came over from Chincoteague, we passed through pretty towns like Onancock, then over the bridge to Virginia Beach, which gets bad press as a holiday ghetto, but as it was quiet it more resembled a ghost town or a movie set, and we thought it ok. There is a fantastic, very long, boardwalk (concrete actually) with separate pedestrian and bicycle strips along the ocean. It must be a nightmare in summer when all those cars arrive!