Crow's Nest and its surrounds are inspired by the military ruins around Queenscliff and Sorrento in Victoria, Australia, where I spent a few years as a small child.
That is, I spent a few years in Queenscliff, but in a house, not in the military ruins, which were probably a needle-stick hazard. The rock pools were a blue-ringed octopus / slice-your-toe-off-on-boxwork hazard.