We are done (Lord Howe Island)

And the last day has arrived.  Sadly.

It was an interesting night.  There were some very strange animal noises from the bush surrounding the Treehouse.  My assumption is that it was a tern attempting to protect its young from a nocturnal invader, probably a rat.  It went on for sometime between 2 and 4am, I hope the tern was  successful. Rex later informed me that it was probably a LHI woodhen.  They are very territorial and aggressive and really, really loud.

Prior to this we walked to the northern end of LHI to Milky Way for a traditional island fish-fry for dinner.  King fish pieces, calamari, prawns, salad and fries.  Way too much for Jayne and I to eat.  It's not often that a seafood dinner stops me, but they won that round.  It was a beautiful cloudless night on the walk home - and thankfully we remembered our torches.  The sky was an inky black and the stars where everywhere.  It takes me back to my childhood to remember the night sky so vividly alight.  Discussions (arguments) around constellations identified as kids - the saucepan and where is scorpio or the pointers from the Southern Cross - sigh.

Today is turning out much like yesterday weather-wise and our agenda for the day will be similar except that it will be marred by a 4:10pm flight back to Sydney and reality.  Our bags are packed and we are relaxing on the verandah for one last time taking in the lagoon and those brooding mountains to the south, both of which are wreathed in cloud.

The plan for today is to pack and place our bags in the transit lounge and then walk across to Ned's Beach for some snorkelling in that magnificent underwater garden.  Then back to the transit lounge here at the Treehouse for a shower and change into our travel clothes.  Following that it will be our last walk down the hill and over to the Anchorage for a leisurely lunch until Rex and Louise come to pick us up and deliver us to the airport.

And so, the concluding paragraphs are now being tapped away on our balcony in the heart of Sydney. There is a delightful breeze, the sun has set and the Darling Harbour fireworks have concluded.  It's not all bad being home.

Ned's Beach was the picture it was the previous day, albeit less crowded, initially.  Straight into the water, follow the sand passage out and then turn left across the rocks and coral.  The surge of the waves was stronger than Friday and it was easy to buffeted one side of the bay to the other.  While I could list all the fish we saw yesterday, the beauty of Ned's is that you always see something different.  Today that began with the array of fish being fed close to shore, but that's not where it stopped.  A crown of thorns star fish was impressive, if alone.  The biggest sea slug I've seen was a surprise, but the black tip reef shark was totally unexpected.  It wasn't large, maybe a metre, but it was just a little too curious.  On the first pass I kicked a fin at him and he circled and came back. This time I seriously thought of punching it on the nose and actually wound up, but then I thought of that of that boy on the south coast who did that and got bitten.  Anyway, we eye-balled each other and he backed down and swam out towards the blue yonder.

Just prior to the shark incident, Jayne said she was feeling cold.  That was enough excuse for this real Aussie bloke to head for shore.

Following the plan, we walked back home, showered, changed, chatted with Louise and Rex and walked down to the Anchorage for lunch.  Well really to burn some time before the flight home. Straight to our usual table to be served by our usual wait staff.  Seven days in and we were in a rut, lucky we were going home.  Curiously, we avoided the fish on the menu, we have eaten soooo much fish, ordered a bottle of wine and settled in.  Louise phoned to say the plane was going to be late.  No surprise, so we ordered another bottle of wine and settled in again.

We discussed ice creams for dessert to find that there was a choice of vanilla or vanilla (today is freight ship arrival day and during lunch, there was a steady stream of trucks coming down to the jetty to collect the next fortnight's supply of essentials like chocolate ice cream - yet to be available while we are on the island).

We were saved from this dessert dilemma by the arrival of Louise and Rex to take us to the airport. We enjoyed our chats about their exploits yachting around the world (literally) and our holidays reviewed on Trip Advisor (they are non-participants at this point).  They have an adventurous life - time on the island punctuated by taking off on the seven seas to wherever - 3 months at home and 9 months off elsewhere. We discussed the relative merits of various islands we have all visited to decide that Lord Howe reigns supreme.

Time to depart - first on the plane, smooth trip home and excellent landing to catch a lift home with new cabbie who was on for a chat about his new job and keen to have his first day off tomorrow. Lovely guy who will no doubt harden up and become another Sydney cabbie but was a lovely departure from the norm to see us home to our Redfern apartment.

Goodbye LHI, for the moment.

Hey, I can see our apartment block. No, really.

And what a view coming into Sydney.

So dear reader, we are done for another trip away.  Already planning the next two - one domestic and one overseas so just to keep you wanting more - another island escape to be followed by "I want to be apart of it - New York New York" ............................ and that will be worth waiting for.

  

Under the sea (Lord Howe Island)

On a perfect day when too much snorkelling is barely enough.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.

The squalls and the wind and the heavy grey cloud of yesterday are a distant memory.  The day dawned light and bright with the usual clouds obscuring the top of Mt Gower and a light breeze ruffling the fronds of the kentia palms.  Music made in heaven, well if not heaven then paradise.  I just love this place and I wasn't sure I would twenty years on from the last visit.  Admittedly the Treehouse helps, the accommdation is 5 star and Rex and Louise are lovely hosts.

The day began as usual, wake, doze, wake, doze and finally, the Museum Cafe is open - it's time for breakfast.  Lying in bed looking out across the tops of the Kentia Palms in the garden to the top of the permanently (this time) cloud-shrouded Mt Gower is just too relaxing.  Who wants to get out of bed? Who wants to go home tomorrow back to reality?  As much as we love the new apartment, the amswer is: Jayne and me.  I even want to come back in winter to see how capricious the weather can be.

Finally out of bed we let gravity propel us to our breakfast venue.  It was so quiet we thought it was closed, but no, it just appears that Fridays begin slower than other days.  After breakfast and a reasonable coffee we marched (well, walked with purpose) back up the hill, changed and headed further up the hill to walk across the top of the island and down to Ned's Beach.  The different wind direction meant that it should be good for snorkelling or feeding the fish if that's what you're into.

One perfect day at Ned's Beach

Ned's was crowded by LHI standards, there would have 40 people scattered across the beach and the grassed area.  Claustrophobic.  Drop the towles and pack, grab the snorkels and fins and down to the water's edge.  The water temperature is a balmy 24.  Ned's is an underwater wonderland for a number of reasons, it is a no fishing area, people come here to feed the fish, there are coral outcrops and rock and sea grass.  It pretty much has it all and on a day like today when the wind is from the south or south-west, the swell is non-existent so you snorkel everywhere.  And we did.  We saw: pacific trumpetfish, silver trevally, garfish, whiting, drummer, spangled emperor, butterfly fish, blue sweep, book fish, sand mullet, sea urchins and OK I'm bored now so I'll stop.  There were lots of fish.

Once the goggles started to leave what we thought would be permanent lines on our faces and fingers became all rippled and soggy, we thought it was time to shift to another venue.  Out of the water, drying off, the kids feeding the fish amused us for a while.  One young boy, about 7 or so, thought hand feeding was a literal term, until he had his finger bitten.  Not happy.

Gear on again, we commenced the walk to Sylph's hole or the very northern end of Settlement Beach.  It is a significant sea grass area where the turtles come to feed.  Sylph's hole is about 100m off shore depending on the tide and is a haven for butterfly fish.  The down side is that visibility is very poor depending on rain fall and storms/wind direction.  Basically we should have snorkelled down there 2 days ago before the big wind shift.  

Wandering along the beach I thought I spotted a couple of turtles in the water, really close to shore. The tide was out and the sea grasses were merely a metre or two from the low-tide mark.  I was right, two, if not three turtles.  We kitted up and went for the water.  The visibility was worse than I thought it would be and I kept stopping and standing up to see if I could spot the turtles.  Finally I got close to one but it didn't want to be close to me and disappeared in a cloud of sand and debris.  Given the poor visibility we were not going to see much more than sea grass and the occasional fish so we headed back to shore.

I decided to walk to the northern end of the beach in case I spotted a turtle feeding in close to shore again.  Nothing.  On the way back, however, I noticed one in about 3 metres from shore.  Jayne had been watching it for some time.  We walked down together and watched the turtle grazing on the sea grass.  It was quite large and was a Hawksbill.  The one that avoided me in the water was a Green turtle.  We stood within 2 metres of it as it fed and then it had enough and swam out to deeper water.

Just let me breathe and leave me alone.

We repaired to the beach to sit and soak up the view.  Then another sighting.  Back down to the water's edge, this time with camera.  And we watched and waited for the little bugger to come up for air so I could get a snap of his head.  Meanwhile, Jayne had signalled to the only other people on the entire beach to come and have a look.  There we stood in waist deep water waiting for something to happen.  It did.  He came up for air, I snapped, photo below.  We talked the random family, told them at low tide they could walk along the beach and see the turtles feeding.  As we were chatting we could see other turtle heads popping out of the water further out.  Then in very close, a couple of young Green turtles.  The other people were very happy Jayne had called them over and sat down to watch the turtle show.  We walked from the water.  It was time for lunch.

We wandered to the Anchorage to see if we could get some ready made bread rolls - no luck - sold out.  So headed over to Thompson's store to get some made to take home since dinner is not till 7pm. Tonight we are heading to the sea food night at Milky Way.  The shop was an inferno but we placed our very complicated order of 2 ham and salad rolls, one with mayo.  Price: $15.50.  Hmm.  Pricey, they'd better be good.  Duely made and placed into the backpack, we carried them back up the hill to the Treehouse.  Unpacked them to discover - 2 salad rolls.  Both with cheese and mayo and neither with ham ... too far to go back and complain.  Guess we won't be going back there next time we are here; well, probably we will, but we will watch the creation of the product more closely.  Speaking of food creation, this process was typically not WHS aware.  LHI does not seem to have caught on to the idea that if something goes wrong, people will try to blame someone else rather than accept personal responsibility.  So things like life jackets on boats, using tongs or gloved hands for food preparation, observing the speed limit are merely if you feel like it and if no one has died yet, is it really an issue?

And so, post the lunch debacle we sit on the verandah and gaze at the view.  Alternately, the lagoon and the mountains.  As I tap the keys Gower has freed itself from cloud for the first time this week. The mountains are just spectacular and I can't keep from eyes from them.  The breeze continues, albeit from another direction, the sun moves across the sky and we sit and discuss the meaning life while looking at a priecless view and sipping wine from ... well, it doesn't really matter, sipping wine and waiting for the time to walk to dinner.  Ahhh.  I'm doing my bit for the economy.  And in three days I'll be back at work.  Sad face. Tears.

In the meantime, it's time to get changed for dinner.  There will be no post tomorrow dear reader because we will be having too much fun before we are in transit, more snorkelling and turtle spotting. Never fear, the final stage of our journey will be posted within the week.  I am sure you are looking forward to the review of the fish fry as much as I am to eating it.  It was talked about in both previous trips, but we never made it.  Tonight's the night.

On a cold and grey Chicago (Lord Howe Island) morning

After some unexpectedly beautiful weather mother nature reminded us not to take her for granted. The wind changed direction last night and brought squalls with it; strong wind and heavy rain.  If the water tanks weren't already filled, they are now.  The new eco focus in cities has returned the joys of tank water, although it didn't happen early enough for us, so it has been a return to childhood experiences not only to drink rain water, but to shower in it as well.  Hmmm, soft.

All pictures in today's post were taken earlier in the week.

My usual alarms were muted by the wind ripping through the palms and the cloud was so heavy and low it was difficult to tell what was the time of day.  As I said in a previous post the palm fronds scraping together are so loud it is not easy to determine when it is raining.  There was no trouble this time, it was torrential.  By 9:30 the rain had eased off and the wind had become sporadic gusts so we grabbed our umberallas and walked down the hill to the cafe at the museum for breakfast.  The next excursion was to the 'liquor store' so American, sadly it didn't open until 1pm.  The weather still didn't look committed to clearing so went home and flopped on the lounge to read and play games. Supplies were running low of the wine we brought from the mainland so we would be back come hell or high water - or in this case tropical squall.

A walk through the walking trees.  Slower than ents.

For any literary buffs out there I am reading the English translation of the 1st edition of the Grimm Brother's folk anf fairy tales.  It's quite interesting to see where Walt Disney acquired so much of his inspiration, not to mention the Little Golden Books of my childhood.  It's also interesting to see tales so familiar to us birthed and rebirthed in slightly different fashion.  Most fascinating, however, is the sanitisation/Christianisation of the stories for the middle classes and Disney wasn't totally responsible for this, the elder of the brothers Grimm also had a hand in that.  Curiously, as I had thought, the tales are not all cautionary tales for children and nor does the good guy always win, often the bad guy gets up.  In general, men are weak, women are strong, step-mothers are evil, maidens are always beautiful and talking animals are generally enchanted princes.  If you are up for tales of magic, cannibalism, torture and treachery then this is the book for you.

As the afternoon blew away we thought it safe to venture back to the liquor store to purchase the much needed supplies.  Happily, after twenty years the prices are much more in keeping with your local bottle shop - not Dan Murphy's discount, but reasonable prices and quite a good range.  Back at the Treehouse sipping Veuve on the verandah the intellectual focus shifted to Jatz biscuits.  I kid you not gentle reader.  I picked up a Jatz, ignored the cheese and looked at both sides of the scrumptious little aussie biscuit before I popped into my mouth.  Jayne was, I believe, incredulous.  "What did you just do?" she asked, not understanding what she had just witnessed.  "I was looking to see which side was salted so that side went onto my tongue," I replied, nonplussed.  "What?" she asked, "Jatz are salted only on one side?" she enquired.  So, I drew the next biscuit from the packet and showed her the salted and unsalted side.  "Well, I've learned something today," was the amazed reply.  And the world turns. Sorry, no photos of the Jatz biscuit is available aside from this one purloined from the web:

Look closely and you can see the salt crystals.

Now the only decision to make was a late lunch at the Anchorage or dinner elsewhere.  As I've said before these things need to be planned in advance because there are only a couple of venues open 7 days.  If you do not plan carefully and don't want fine dinning, you could end up at an island fish-fry every night.  A slight exaggeration but it is possible.  Eventually we opted for the blackboad menu at the Bowling Club and booked for a fish-fry at Milky Way tomorrow night.  It is really stressful being on holiday.

So, where was I?  Just back from dinner at the bowlo.  When we arrived there were 12 cars, 2 step-throughs and 14 bikes.  We were worried we wouldn't get a table, but it was just barefoot bowls and few locals having a beer after Thursday afternoon touch.  The evening was quite pleasant with a reasonable choice of food from steak through to seafood - although seafood dominated as you would expect.  And another perfect dat in paradise comes to a slow, lazy conclusion.

41 false starts (Lord Howe Island)

A post title for all the Leonardo's Bride fans out there.

I certainly didn't have 41 false starts to the day, but there were a few.  The first couple occurred during that pre-dawn period when I'm never sure if it's day or night.  It was only wind through the palms, but it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between that and rain. Mostly it was wind and once it was a brief rain shower.  Then somebody nearby had their radio up a little too loud.  Finally at the more respectable time of 7:30am, the time by which I am usually sitting at my desk at work, and Emerald Dove flew into the glass door of the bedroom that leads to the verandah.  It was clearly a botched suicide mission although 3 hours later he was still in the recovery ward shaking his head.  He left a beautiful imprint of himself on the door as a reminder of the dangers of the Australian bush. That was enough, time to get out of bed.

The day couldn't quite decide what to do, it was cloudy then it cleared, then it was cloudy again, but the constant was the wind.  Ned's Beach or Blinky's was out of the question so a walk to the south end of the island became the activity for the day.  Rex and Louise popped in as we were heading out and we had a chat about various things, the Emerald Dove and his need for care and the rat situation. 

In the last couple of days I have seen a number of rats, some dead, some not quite dead.  We are in a two week baiting period.  Rats have long been a problem on LHI for all the usual reasons as well as the fact that they have the ability to decimate the LHI Woodhen population and a number of other ground dwelling birds and other species.  While the bait stations work well enough in the populated areas, there is a vast expanse of land which is not populated, around 90%.  The rats are eradicated around the settlement and then the rats from out of town move in and fill the void. It's a bit like organised crime.  Even moreso when you consider that there has been a solution proposed that has strong scientific backing but the naysayers (read conspiracy theorists) are against the proposal to drop baits in the unpoplulated areas.  So, in the meantime, Nero fiddles as Rome burns.  The trial aerial drop is supposed to occur this winter.

LHI Woodhen

Camera in hand and back-pack on, we began the walk to other end of the island.  Once you are past Pinetrees Lodge there is not really much else, the airstrip - which now features a kiosk that apparently does the best coffee on the island, it also does gelato and pizza, the golf club and Capella Lodge. 

The view form the above the 8th green

Beyond that is mostly farming land and the cows are fat and very content with their lives at present. Why you ask dear reader, well about three years ago some do-gooder decided that the way the animals had been slaughtered for human consumption for the past several decades was no longer good enough.  Animals may only be slaughtered in an abattoir, oh wait, LHI doesn't have an abattoir = happy cows and all meat products imported from the mainland.

A happy beast

The farming land comes to an end at the foot of those towering mountains Lidgbird and Gower.  The road ceases and becomes a walking track to the beginning of the climb.  The mountains are a no-go zone unless you have an experienced guide with you.  All there is to do at that point is to enjoy the view back to the north across the lagoon.  It is truly a spectacular landscape.

After a brief kodak moment we set off again, not heading for home but the Anchorage for lunch. Jayne asked whether Strava would work, to which I replied "yes, it is satellite based".  Strava was connected to check the distance of today's walk.  As we reached the Anchorage I calculated that we had walked close enough to 10kms.  Lunch had been walked off before we even had it.

Post lunch it was nanna nap time because it was a tad too windy for snorkelling.  The afternoon slides into evening as the clouds drift across the lagoon and the sun melts back into the ocean, then it's time to eat again.  Luckily we have the second half of that delightful trevally I caught and half of the coral cod for dinner tonight.

The discussion tonight was around what makes LHI so special.  We have stayed on Heron, Great Keppel and Fitzroy Islands, but LHI is by far the winner.  Each island has its attractions but LHI seems to bring them all together.  The other three islands are all in Queensland and either on the reef or have fringing reef - so does Lord Howe.  From our perspective the coral here is as good as we've seen anywhere, and that includes two trips to the outer reef.  The natural beauty here is unsurpassed, mountains, rain forest, surf beaches, lagoon, coral, bush walking and the world of nature - the woodhens and other species above the sea, not to meantion the myriad of life below it.  You can't help but feel relaxed on LHI and we really believe it is due to the number of people that are at any one time.  The number of tourists is strictly limited and spread across the entire settlement form north to south.  Nowhere is crowded.  Today we walked along the lagoon beach and where we were was totally deserted, you don't feel crowded, you don't feel rushed, you just feel calm and relaxed in a pasradise of natural beauty.  Yes it has gone a little more upmarket with a couple of new eateries, bread baked daily on site and the obvious presence of more vehicles but the essence of the island has remained intact. We will continue to return - not something we have ever desired to do with any other island 'paradise'.

After the rain (Lord Howe Island)

Hello again,

last night the rain came, well "squall" is probably a more apt word, not once but twice and it was heavy. The birds woke me as ususal this morning, but it was still too dark to see what the day would hold. By 7am it was clear that it would be clear (did you see what I did there?).  Light cloud, light breeze, Mt Gower still catching clouds.  Wow, the first real LHI weather we had experienced on this trip.

As I am writing I am taking photo of the sunset.  One beautiful part of the view from our verandah, and I hadn't previously realised because it has been so cloudy, is that the view of the sun set is a direct line.  No need to go wandering for the best vantage point, I have it already.

I digress.  After breakfast we thought that some snorkelling in the lagoon would be the thing to do.  It was then I discovered that I had not packed the GoPro.  Bugger.  No underwater shots.  Anyway, we gathered our gear, applied that ghastly sunscreen stuff and walked down to the lagoon.  Sadly, children dominated the landscape so we meandered around a little headland and found a beach all to ourselves.  Not that it mattered because in a few minutes we were kitted up with fins and goggles and were in the water.

The area we were snorkelling was not anything special.  It was mostly sand, yet every now and then there was an outcrop of rock and coral and it was transformed into a scene from Finding Nemo.  The colour of the coral and the fish always seems to surprise and and amaze.  Today was no different. Unexpectedly we came across the fish superhighway.  The coral gave way to rock and sand and the little colourful fish were replaced with schools of trevally, the biggest whiting I've seen and the occasional morwong.  We floated around for a while, well, until I became tired of blowing water out of my goggles.  Excellent experience.  Weather permitting we will go in search of turtles tomorrow.

Back home for a shower and change of clothes and then a quick light lunch at the LHI Museum/Visitor Centre.  Menus were on the tables, wait staff were delivering food, but nowhere did it say you had to order inside at the counter.  Nor did any wait staff suggest this would be a good idea.  I don't get tourist areas sometimes.  A simple sentence on the menu would have sufficed. Anyway, we ordered and the food was good and headed back up the hill to pack for our afternoon fishing expedition.

I underestimated the time it would take to walk to the pier and as we arrived we were asked, "are you going fishing?" "Yes" I replied, "Well you'd better hurry because he's going to leave without you." We made it.  Just.  There was Jayne and I and another couple, Hugh and Storm, young enough to be our children.  Jack, the skipper, captain, whatever, is a LHI legend.  He takes people fishing 5 days a week, twice a day and climbs Mt Gower the other two days.  Fit?  Are you joking?

The wind has not abated since our arrival, so we ploughed through the nor'easter for three miles before we reached the reef on the edge of the drop off.  I thought we were fishing in close to the island with hand reels.  Nope.  Heavy duty rods.  And we had to wear those cutesy rod holding thingos (about which I was most pleased at a later time).  The point where we began fishing had its own marker system.  Dolphins.  They were everywhere.  Riding the waves, jumping out of the water, it was spectacular.  I've seen them at Hawks Nest/Tea Gardens and on the south coast, but 3 miles out to sea. Epic!

Let the games begin.  Hugh and I were the first to have a shot at catching dinner.  Jack is a genius because we never had a run without a hit or two.  I struck first, or was struck first by a very tasty trevally.  I say tasty because we have eaten half of it already.  Simply cooked, olive oil, salt on the bbq and lemon juice to serve.  Sweet, tasty, yum.  Then back to the beginning and Hugh caught one but it never made the surface thanks to the abundance of sharks.  Back again and this time Hugh hooked a shark, about 1.5 metres in length. Again we returned to the dolphins and drifted back for a similar result. This time it was Storm who hooked a fish that a shark enjoyed before we saw it on the surface. We understood the process now and went again.  Same result.  

Storm retired and returned the rod to Hugh, Jayne was not interested in playing this game of brinkmanship which required you to stand at the end of the boat and brace your legs against the rails as you reeled in your fish.  One more pass and I caught a Coral Cod.  Next pass and Hugh caught a trevally.  The final drift both Hugh and I hooked sharks.  I would have preferred a kingfish, but we had enough for dinner.  As I sat slumped on the bait bin, exhausted after the fight with the shark (1.75 m and angry - well how would you feel if you you took a bite of free feed and ended up with a bloody big hook in your mouth?)  Hugh turned to me and said, "you win".  Gentle reader you know what a competitive spirit I am, graciously, I could have said "this wasn't a competition" however Jayne was there and would have replied, "everything is a competition for you".  I guess she's right and in that case I won.

The trip back in seemed to take less time and we stopped to look a some caves that have formed in the north end of the island.  The only other stop was to fillet the fish and then finally to disembark to come home and finish a typical LHI kind of day - awesome natural beauty kept simple to enjoy without crowds or hassle. We have been to many other islands but nothing holds a candle to LHI in either its beauty or its uncluttered environment - nothing feels crowded and as Storm said today, it's the the only island that actually looks like the publicity shots.  Say no more.

Rainy days and Mondays (Lord Howe Island)

I know we've used this title previously, but it is Monday and it has rained for most of the day.

Day 3 (Monday) dawned in much the same way as the previous days – I am making an assumption about Saturday morning based on the weather to date – grey.  The alarm woke me at 7am, I had drifted back to sleep after the early morning wake up call of the local bird life.  There was a gentle breeze, the cloud looked a little heavier and the tops of Mounts Gower and Lidgbird were shrouded in grey and hidden from view.

After discussions with the people who conduct the snorkelling tours yesterday, we decided that today would be the best opportunity to head out on a guided tour.  Wrong, although the weather is supposed to deteriorate from today.  We had breakfast and waited to see if things would lighten up and when they didn’t we cancelled.  There is not much point snorkelling on the reef in thick cloud; the colours just aren’t there.

In another first world problem, the internet was down.  This post is being prepared to be cut and pasted at a later time, hopefully while we are still here gentle reader because I know how much you look forward to a blog post to commence your day.

Although we would have liked to go on the tour this morning, our accommodation is so perfect that I am not really disappointed.  Sitting on the verandah gazing at the lagoon and watching it change colour as the sun grows stronger or weaker is better than television.  The same applies to watching the mist and cloud that often cloaks to the two mountains to our south.  Lidgbird is clear at present and Gower is almost clear so any climbers would be getting a brief opportunity to look over the entire island.

We thought we might wander to the southern end of the island today and grabbed the pack and camera.  As I stepped out onto the front landing it began to rain.  Not heavy, just enough to ensure we repaired to the verandah with a book and a cup of tea.  To venture further would have caused Jayne’s hair to misbehave and that dear friend is not an option.

The drizzle persisted and Jayne opted to brave the elements and head over to the Anchorage for a coffee, although when we arrived we thought lunch might be a better alternative.  We ordered some wine with our food, however, it was all gone by the time the food arrived.  Sadly we had been forgotten and the wait staff required a reminder that drinking on an empty stomach is not a good idea. 

There must be something about us being invisible to the hospitality industry. Yesterday we felt we had walked far enough to earn and ice cream at Thompson’s shop.  We approached the counter and closely examined the various flavours still available since this is entirely dependent on the arrival of the next freight vessel.  Early in the piece it is feast but as the next delivery date approaches, it becomes famine and the habitual choice of passion fruit was sadly only remnants in the bottom of its container.  We made our decisions and discussed the single versus double cone options while the girl behind the counter was literally less than 2 metres away cleaning the coffee machine.  There was no one else at the counter and unless we missed the hearing aids, she did nor appear to be aurally impaired.  Yet she did not attempt to come and serve us.  We waited patiently for a couple of minutes, still chatting in case she had missed our presence.  Finally she turned and seemed surprised that we were there.  Apologies ensued and then she started to concoct our ice creams.  We can only assume this was an attempt to compensate for initially ignoring us because we have never seen so much ice cream piled onto a single cone – the scoops just kept coming, leaving us to ponder what you get in the double cones …

Anyway this afternoon, while we appeared again to be invisible to the wait staff, we chatted and watched the drizzle increase to rain and then subside again.  Given the weather it was a pleasant, if slightly lengthier than anticipated, way to spend the afternoon.

On returning home we discovered the internet was once again alive, although it still functions at speeds that I recall from the days of dial-up access.  I wonder if the PM Mr Abbott or his Telecommunications minister Mr Turnbull have experienced the frustration of internet access this slow and unreliable?  I doubt it, otherwise the roll out of the NBN project wouldn’t have been shelved.  I can’t imagine how anyone on this island uses the internet for commerce or education.

As afternoon stretched into the evening the drizzle continued.  The sound of the light rain on the palms was soporific and it soon lulled some of us into nanna-nap land.  Well she is a nanna.

Being nicely sated following lunch, dinner was always going to be assorted cheeses and wine on the verandah.  It’s a tough life, but somebody has to lead it – even if only for a week.

And in a postscript before attempting to publish this post the drizzle has turned to heavy rain confining us indoors and the satellite television reception has died.  Mother nature is just reminding us who is the boss.

Red Rose Speedway (Lord Howe Island)

Welcome to day 2 and the traffic, cars everywhere ...

Weatherwise, Sunday proved to be similar to Saturday, warm, light winds and cloud.  It wasn't going to stop us doing anything but it's not the best weather for snorkelling, sunlight really lights up the coral. So we decided today would be Dora the Explorer day.

The birdlife woke us well before sunrise but it was a nice change from the trains at Redfern station. Sleeping with the door open and having the breeze and fresh air all night was an absolute luxury we haven't enjoyed since we left Woodbine for the city.  After finally struggling out of bed we headed back to The Anchorage where we had dinner last night, to have a coffee and buy some sourdough. The coffee was good and we decided to have breakfast there as well.

A white tern baby

Post breakfast we headed north to check out the menus at the lodges down that end of the island.  It is important to have dinner planned, different lodges are open to the public on different nights.  We then walked down to north bay, the place we hope to snorkel with some turtles.  There were a couple of groups out snorkelling even though it was a little windy.  Soon the sound of excited voices carried across the water, "I saw one.  Did you see it?"  I gather they spotted a turtle.  We also walked past the spot that is familar to David.  Do you recognise this fence and paddock?  I have photo of it from years ago with you in the frame.

We wandered back towards the Treehouse checking out the coral cruises and snorkelling trips along the way, when Jayne remembered the community markets.  We arrived right on opening time 10:30am and were, well, underwhelmed by the number of stalls.  There were some homemade jewellery, cakes, biscuits, second hand books, some bad tie-dye gear and someone making coffee.  A quick circuit, a discussion around our relative merits as the principal of the local school on whose campus the markets were being conducted and we once again made for our home in the trees.

The walk up the hill was every bit as steep as it was last night after dinner, but easier to navigate in the daylight.  The wind had dropped a little which meant we felt the humidity.  Once home it was hydration time then onto the verandah to enjoy the view, read a bit and fall asleep.

Batteries recharged we discussed whether we would go snorkelling in the afternoon or continue our walking tour.  Walking it was, but after we'd booked dinner at the Golf Club (gourmet pizza tonight) and a fishing expedition for Tuesday afternoon.

Looking at the map I had decided that I had never been to Middle Beach, so that became our first destination.  The beginning of the track was about 100m from our accommodation.  Off the road straight into rain forest.  The light dimmed and the smell of decaying humus was as strong as the sound of cicadas/crickets and the waves pounding on the shore.  The track was quite obvious and well marked and traversed areas pock marked with mutton bird nests.  It looked like the place had been bombed.  Mutton birds, or shearwaters as they are more correctly known, dig a burrow in which to lay their egg.  About 350m later we reach the headland and the sign stating that the Middle Beach is not accessible during high tide.  This probably explains why I hadn't been here before.  The sign was true. The tide was in and the beach could not be accessed without going into the water and around some rock formations.  

Middle Beach - not offering the sand or surf of Blinky's

Back the way we came and back onto the road we headed north towards a spot on the map marked 'view'.  An electric fence precluded the best aspect, but as it was cloudy it wasn't worth the attempt to get out closer to the cliff edge, I'll save that for another day.

We passed the 'top shop' so named because it is on top of the island.  Closed.  It is Sunday afternoon. Ned's Beach was the next stop, the scene of great snorkelling exploits not to mention the fish feeding. Stale bread carefully placed between the legs of an unsuspecting spectator can cause a flurry of excitement as the fish dive between the person's legs to get a feed.  Dad was a great exponent.  Never turn your back.  The fish that came into feed were of various species but there were some quite sizeable trevally that I would have been happy to see on my plate.  Today however, the wind was coming from the wrong direction for a quiet swim and a snorkel and the boards were more dominant than snorkellers.  We won't be back there until the wind changes direction, or maybe early in the morning before the wind gets too strong.

Red necks exist everywhere, think this means 'no cattle beyond this point'.

From Ned's we walked back down past Somerset, the lodge we stayed at the last two times we visited the island.  Then into Thompson's Store for an ice cream.  The choice was rather limited so it must be close to the supply ship arriving. No chocolate!  Not enough passionfruit to fill a cone so I settled for Mango and Jayne, ever trend-conscious tried the salted caramel.  Admittedly the girl behind the counter kept us waiting as she cleaned the coffee machine, but 4 scoops of ice cream in a single cone. OMG!  It was massive.  Pity it wasn't chocolate.  Yes, another first world problem.

Walking back past the lagoon cruises, turtle watching and snorkelling cruises we decided to book an outing.  Coral cruising in the glass bottom boat with 4 snorkelling stops.  After a discussion about the weather and what it may or may not do, we decided that tomorrow was the better option and booked for 9am.  Enough for one day, we headed back up the hill to the Treehouse to catch our breath, read and snooze the couple of hours away before dinner.

(Narrator change to Jayne)  Last night the dinner options were limited due to our late arrival. We decided on recommendation to go to the Anchorage which offered both seafood and charcuterie.  I had the former while Brad had the latter - all good and a pleasant way to start the island retreat but far more up market than when we last visited.  We would not have been able to afford to dine here with our kids even if it had existed back then.

The dinner option for tonight, given we cannot possibly cook for ourselves, was the bowling club for the gourmet pizza night.  We would not have considered this on any other night unless the fare was gourmet but we booked and rolled up there to find a glorified pie warmer in operation that delivered the gourmet food to the sizeable numbers of island dwellers, both dine-in and take-away.  We were glad we booked even so as we were told to sit where ever as the place quickly filled up.  We discussed the honour board that has been suspended for what ever reason since the year 2000 and the statte of the greens, given my father's passion for lawn bowls - would not have passed muster. Rating - pizzas were ok but not gourmet. Service was friendly and fast.  Got out before torches were needed to light the way home - bonus.

General observations today: blackbirds are everywhere (bloody ferals) and so are cars.  Both have increased significantly since our first trip.

It's good to be back (Lord Howe Island)

The flight was uneventful in the main part, although it was almost an hour late leaving Sydney; that just meant we enjoyed the hospitality of the Qantas Club champagne bar for a little longer.  Our first flight to Lord Howe was in a 7-seat plane, Jayne acted as the hostie and served coffee from the café bar, my brother Scott was sat in the co-pilot’s seat.  No, he is not a qualified pilot.  I thought I was going to die as we flew through thunderstorms and headed up the coast.  What ever happened today really wasn’t going to compete with that nightmare, I mean memory.

Today we were on a Qantas Dash 8 that seats 36 with a pilot, co-pilot and air steward; luxury.  A rather curious choice of ‘snack’ was offered which made me immediately regret not making a toastie in the Qantas lounge.  Who thought that a brown bread, egg and lettuce sandwich with caesar dressing would be a popular choice?  Did I say choice? There was no choice - that was the snack.  Yes, yes, I know, first world problems, but I don’t eat eggs.  Mercifully, a box containing a Crunchie and half an apple, sliced, and some water followed.  A Crunchie, food from the 70s.

As I said the flight was uneventful, perhaps because I slept through most of it.  The landing was somewhat agricultural, the wings dipping from side to side as we approached the runway, but there was quite a strong crosswind, so I upgraded my original landing score from a 5 to 7.

On arrival, Rex and Louise, who own the Treehouse, met us.  Following a driving tour of the island we were deposited at our accommodation.  Not much has changed since we were here sometime last century.  There are a few new houses, the golf club has a verandah, there are some new places to stay and a lot more cars.  Dinner venues are pretty much unchanged as well, although some have experienced a name change.

Our accommodation is gorgeous.  One bedroom, luxurious bathroom with floor to ceiling tiles, lounge room/kitchen area that looks out to the lagoon across a 3 metre deck with daybed, table and lounge.  Yes, that’s right – the Treehouse has not 1 but 2 lounges to sit on whenever we like and that in itself is enough for us to feel like we are in heaven (for those of you who don’t know, we have recently moved from our outer suburban large family home to a two bedroom unit in the city and are awaiting furnishings, so we have no lounge and sit on the floor).  The view I hear you ask?  Stunning.  Well the pictures speak for themselves - well they will when the cloud clears. 

Looking from door to door

Verandah to the lagoon 

The verandah

View to the lagoon

The view from the verandah to the lagoon

The bedroom

On arrival we decided that we would hire bikes to get around.  Tonight after walking back from The Anchorage after dinner we decided that wasn’t such a good idea.  We are on top of a rather steep hill.  Awesome to ride down, but a bitch heading the other way.

And so at the end of our first day, the sun has set and I am sitting on the verandah tapping away at this blog, we have learned two things: 1.  Do not go out for dinner without your torch.  It is very dark here at night.  2.  Insect repellant is a must (lucky we remembered it).  Bzzzzzzz.  Slap.

PS It has taken almost 4 hours to load the pictures, so I'm not certain there will be many photographs published in future posts.