Getting there
Trip Start
Jul 03, 2007
1
8
Trip End
Jul 10, 2007
Lord Howe Island, Australia
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
G:
We had organised to have Stephen collect us, so there was no panic. Terminal 2 was quite empty so we got through in no time, and had an hour to kill, so we had a Subway and a Boost juice for breakfast.
M:
We were pretty much packed by the time we woke, and Stephen was booked for 9:45 so we pottered about until then. Easy run through to the airport and then the only worry was that our flight wasn't on the departure board. But we found it, and the teeny tiny check-in counter waaay over in a corner. The very nice girl made us feel very guilty about our 14.4kg and 16kg bags saying that the 14kg limit was because the aircraft can't refuel on Lord Howe Island so if they burn extra fuel on the way out, they'll run out on the way back. But she looked at our carry-ons (which we tried to make look as light as possible - luckily she didn't weigh them as mine was definitely over the 4kg limit and I was wearing (sweatily) my thick Aran jersey and my heavy Gore-Tex jacket and carrying both camera and purse full of change for phones - and let us through.
We stood in a looong (but quite quick) queue for Subways and then a much shorter one for BoostJoos - the latter with a very perky girl who called us "sweetheart" and "beautiful" and asked - and remembered later! - where we were going - and then found some seats overlooking the tarmac to eat our breakfast.
Twenty minutes before our flight we wandered off to buy some magazines - my airport indulgence - and sunnies and then down to gate 49 where the other thirty passengers were assembling. Our seats - row 9 - were in the last row which went right across like the back of a bus although the middle one of the five was marked "crew only" and even so wasn't used by the single hostie (I think she must've taken off and landed in the cockpit as there was no-where else) so Gray had an empty seat beside him. The other two were occupied by a young mum and a very cross toddler called Wilson. Wilson alternated between coughing copiously, howling when strapped in (despite a system that I haven't seen before whereby the child is actually belted onto the Mom's lap) and scrambling all over Gray, which he took with good grace. He even read to the child from his own book and from the Qantas magazine. The mum didn't seem to have anything at all to amuse the child and only a crappy gossip magazine for herself.
G:
We were eventually called to walk out to the Dash. We were in the 9th row, right at the back. It was like a bench seat at the back of a bus. Unfortunately there was a mother and toddler on the other side, so I spent quite a bit of the 700km flight entertaining the child - who also had a bad cough.
We flew into cloud, but it cleared for the approach, and what a beautiful sight it was, all bush-clad with the two peaks towering nearly vertical out of the one side. The middle has some buildings and the airfield that runs diagonally right across the waist. We went once around before aligning to come in from the eastern side.
M:
Of course there's little to see on the trip and because the island's so small you are quite low (and starting to worry about that extra 3kg of luggage) before you even catch a glimpse of it. But spectacular isn't the word! The mountains are higher and steeper than I had thought, everything is covered with forest and the beaches and water are the colours of postcards. We were lucky that the plane needed to land from the far side of the airstrip (which is only as long as the width of the island at its narrowest part, where it's flat) so it did a long lazy clockwise loop (we were on the right side) giving us a magnificent view.
G:
The plane had to break sharpish so as not to fall off the other end.
M:
The airport has to have the best setting in the world, all surrounded by palmy jungle and with the mountains in the background. At the entrance to the waiting area - just a couple of sunny benches - we were greeted by a woman who asked where we were staying and then pointed us in the direction of Emma. She was dropping off her husband onto the return flight (going to the mainland to see the dentist - puts idyllic island life into perspective!) so we wandered around to the side of the airport to wait for the luggage cart - same as in Dunhuang only a lot more picturesque! - until she was ready.
G:
Our hostess, Emma, was at the airport to pick us up and to send her husband off for some dental work. She has tendon problems in her left wrist so was battling to change gear. Not that it is an issue with 25kph streets. The first thing that struck us was how clean everything is. It is either forest or mowed lawn. Emma drove us around a bit on the way to our cottage so that we could get our bearings before taking us up to our cottage which looks light and comfortable.
M:
She drove us to Ebbtide via a roundabout way, pointing out the "big" supermarket, called Joy's, Ned's Beach which is very near Ebbtide and is the place where one can hand-feed the fish (up to 35kg apparently!) and "the town" which consists of the Museum / Visitors' Centre (closes at 3pm), the Post Office which also doubles as the Bank, the "Hall" which was advertising the next event as "Seniors' morning tea to meet new babies" - isn't that charming? - and a café called by the delightful name of Humpty Mick's - I don't think they know what that means in South Africa!! Oh, and Thompson's General Dealer.
Our cottage is very nice with a lovely stoep with a view of the sea (I think it would be hard to site a place here without a sea view!) and a reasonable bed. And you can hear the sound of the sea and the wind in the palms everywhere. The living room / kitchen is a little sparse - no problem at all as long as the weather holds but may be a bit awkward if we have rainy days and are cooped up side by side on the two-seater sofa! Lots of lovely wood - floors and bench tops etc - and good lighting which is always a plus. We were also shown the "Library" which is part of our cottage's building and contains an "honesty" bar and the famous card phone as well as piles of flippers and wetsuits and slops and anything else you might need to borrow - as well as books, of course! There is also a vegetable and herb garden (not a lot in it after a recent storm) from which we can help ourselves - and a big basket of rather overripe bananas and avos from the garden on our dining table.
G:
We unpacked and then went out for a walk. The temperature is just about perfect with a light breeze to stir the palm leaves.
M:
As soon as we had unpacked, we set off for an orientation walk. Emma had offered to stop at Joy's for us to pick up groceries but when we heard it was only 15 minutes walk from Ebbtide we said we'd walk it. Probably not the best decision as groceries are heavy and the 15 minutes is up and over the spine of the island but anyway. First stop was Top Shop which was closed - we knew that, having been told the opening hours were 10 - 12:30 and 4:30 - 5:30 - nice work if you can get it! - but it's our closest food shop (and is famous for home-made sausages) so we thought we'd find where it was. It looks like someone's shed! We then wandered on past Palm Sugar café (which is closed for the winter but had been panned in the very comprehensive blog I had found so we weren't interested anyway) into a very poo-ey cow paddock right on some magnificent cliffs where we discovered the first of many picnic tables right on the cliff under a magnificent lone Norfolk pine - what a place for a picnic! (Despite the poo!)
G:
Did some shopping, I got some sandals to walk on the sharp rocks, and sharp they are. The volcanic ash erodes down to needle sharp and jagged outcrops that come in layers.
Because we didn't yet have a map, we weren't quite sure where to go. Passed a large pair of towers about 30m high supporting a dipole which is a navigation beacon, also a couple of big satellite dishes which must be the telecom links.
M:
Then we set off back in the direction of "town" in order to buy a torch, something we had both thought of bringing and both thought "oh what the hell!" but of course will be essential if we are to get to dinner and back after dark. This we got at Thompson's which is a typical small-town General Dealer, selling slip-slops (which Gray needed, having finally worn out his Trennery's pair, only 18 or so years old!) and torches and fishing tackle and film and ice creams and groceries and antipasto (well maybe that's not so typical!) and paint and shell artefacts and T-shirts and hamburgers and hat-pins... So we had a lovely skoffel and a nice chat to the owner who knew all sorts of tricks to make Gray's recalcitrant credit card read properly, the successful one (which she says the banks hate because of the residue it leaves) being a piece of sticky tape over the magnetic strip. And two very good ice creams.
We went to the end of the shops and admired the lovely beach - everything looks straight off the set of "Castaway" - and turned in the direction we thought would take us back towards the airstrip but in fact it petered out at the start of what we now know is a walking track that we will do at some stage. When we thought about it we realized we'd turned the wrong way at the shops so we retraced our steps and eventually found Joy's. This is much more of a supermarket than Thompson's but stills stocks all sorts of interesting other things such as a teeny tiny little field guide to the birds of Lord Howe Island and a gorgeous photocopied A4 newspaper carrying exciting news such as the exact rainfall during various peak periods of the recent storm (front page, along with the news that QantasLink will keep the contract for Lord Howe Island for the next five years because no-one else tendered) and the holiday plans of the local doctor who has just gone on long-service leave for ten weeks.
The walk back was rather arduous especially for poor Gray as it was very steep and we are both very short of lung capacity thanks to our colds. And we got lost again. But eventually we got back safe and sound.
Next job was to phone home which was a real chore as the card phone didn't take the sort of cards I had bought with such effort. It would seem that there are cards which you put into phones and other cards which give you a PIN to enter - I had bought the former and needed the latter. After listening to various Telstra help lines I realized my problem and went over to find Julie making hamburgers or something that meant her hands were covered in sticky crumbs but by pointing to the relevant drawers she was able to sell me a phone card of the sort I needed. No-one was home but I had a very disjointed conversation with Sarah outside movies, and asked her to let Jennie know we are alright.
G:
Spent an hour on our veranda drinking wine and watching the sun set before setting out to the village to find that most unfortunately named Humpty Mick's for supper. It was very romantic hand in hand down the darkening and empty streets with spectacular stars visible where the canopy opened.
M:
A glass of wine on our nice stoep and before it got too dark we set off to have our dinner at Humpty Mick's. It seemed as if we just walked straight down the road and suddenly we were there although we must have turned without realizing it because we got very lost on the way back and had to interrupt a nice bloke's dinner to ask directions. It was lovely walking in the dark. On the way down there was just enough light in the sky that we could see the opening in the trees over the road and as the road is tarred and safe to walk down the middle of, you don't need to be able to see your feet. Also there are mini streetlights at the electricity junction boxes - about every 200m - so in a really dark environment that's often enough to at least give you a clue as to which way the road is going. The way back was harder to start with as we had been in the brightly-lit café so our eyes took a while to adjust and so that would have contributed to our getting lost, but we could actually see the gap in the trees by means of the brilliant star-light. It was breathtaking (in more ways than one because Ebbtide is very high on the island!)
Dinner (despite the name) was good. They didn't have their full menu on offer but they did have pizzas and warned us that we should probably share one which was good advice as we were too full for dessert after half a pizza! It was a seafoody one with a pesto base - sounds odd but very nice. You could have cut the calamari with a fork. Run by two nice youngsters - I don't think a couple but maybe - Pommy girl front-of-house and Aussie bloke in the kitchen who came out to check we were happy with the pizza.
G:
We had a pleasant pizza that we shared before setting out for home, now in the pitch dark. Emma had dropped off a lantern and we had bought a torch, so it should have been easy. We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up having to go into one of the lighted houses and ask for directions.
Mandi was hot and quite flustered when we got in, so she either had too much to drink (which I know she didn't), or she is getting sick.
