Map from www.lordhoweisland.infoThe island represents what is left of a large (now extinct) volcano and it is so isolated that many of the plants and birds are found nowhere else on Earth - Eli even mentioned, more than once, how Lord Howe Island was not on Earth and that we'd go back home, to Earth, later in the week. LHI is also the southern most reef in the Pacific Ocean, courtesy of the East Australian Current - but I'll spare you the details. All of these things make LHI remarkable, but it now also lays claim to being the location of Eli's 4th birthday! If that doesn't whet your apetite to read on nothing will. This megablog re-tells the adventures of our week on LHI with our great friends Jeff, Paige, Addie and Ashford.
We flew to LHI direct from Brisbane and even the approach to the island was pretty spectacular...
Once we arrived we arranged our transport for the week - bicycles. Eli had a pretty good deal, with a comfortable seat right behind mine with no capacity for contributing to the peddling. I liked the extra weight for some of the speedy downhill sections, but uphill was a different story - did I mention that I lost 1.5 kgs on this holiday?
After settling in and hiring some snorkeling gear, we headed off to Ned's beach - one of the most popular visitor spots on the island. Mercifully, with a visitor cap of just 400 visitors on the island at any one time, even the popular spots were never crowded. One of the main attractions at Ned's beach is fish feeding (which I'm not really a big fan of), but just a short swim off from the shore the underwater life was amazing. Having already been 'primed' on the wonders of algae from our trips to local creeks and rivers, Eli quickly took a liking to the diversity of marine algae - he especially liked the sea grapes - and they formed the focus of his beach scouring activities (and my snorkeling) for the rest of the week.
The next day was Eli's birthday, and despite having already received lots of gifts already, Eli was
lucky enough to get a few more as soon as he got up. He was pretty excited and he spent the rest of the day (and the rest of the week actually) telling anyone that would listen that he is 4! He particularly liked telling Addie, who turned 4 herself just one week later. It is amazing what a difference a week makes (to Eli!).
Paige had been signed up to climb Mt Gower, the tallest peak on the island, so the rest of us headed off for a hike to a different beach (Middle Beach this time) and passed through some wonderful forest types. We all really liked the huge fig trees (the locals call them Banyans) whose aerial roots touch down and become strong supporting structures. Sometimes we felt like we were looking at dozens of trees but it was typically just a single tree.
Our hike took us to the aptly named 'Clear Place', where Eli was keen to remind us all that he was 4!
We then back-tracked slightly to go to Middle Beach, for some rock pool and snorkeling adventures...not to mention Eli's other love, which is to find and explore caves along the shore front.
Jeff and I tag-teamed our snorkeling/child-minding duties and the kids had a ball finding rocky shore creatures and the "millions of snails" attached to the rocks (which Eli removed and flung into the ocean). Eli also loved wandering along the beach looking for "treasure" and we also made plenty of sandcastles (although none remained constructed for very long, as Eli has more enthusiasm and flair for deconstruction). Here are a few of the underwater shots I took at Middle Beach...
After a big hike/swim/ride we headed back to our cottage, where I had a couple of very willing helpers when making Eli his chocolate birthday cake...
And here is the finished article, complete with 4 candles. I think Eli really enjoyed his birthday on LHI - it certainly was a bit different and full of adventure - just how he likes it.
The day after Eli's birthday, Paige bravely took on the challenge of wrangling the kids while Jeff and I took on Mt Gower (thanks again Paige!). Mt Gower is 875 m and the 4.5 km hike doesn't sound too bad, but I was wondering what I'd gotten myself in for when I read that the return trip takes 8 hours! It turns out that for some sections it is more of a climb than a hike - thankfully there are ropes and the weather was kind (I can't imagine trying to do it in the rain).
The hike started with some rock hopping before we got to the first rope section - an 80 m climb which took us up to the green ledge you can see in the first photo. We had to wear helmets due to the risk of rock falls (although Dean, our guide, admitted that if rocks were to fall the helmets would probably not save us!).
The views just got better and better as we ascended...
Some of the rope sections...
Near the top of Mt Gower, Dean called some of the circling Providence Petrels out of the sky. This species is now found nowhere else on Earth (they were eaten into extinction on Norfolk Island). Dean told us that any loud noise would attract them down to the ground and they're not very graceful - they simply crashed into the trees and slammed into the ground, before righting themselves and wobbled around screeching. It turns out they nest in burrows and are quite territorial (against other Petrels, not humans). We weren't so much in awe of this display - it was more like complete and utter disbelief that this species still exists given how apparently stupid and clumsy they are...
At the top of Mt Gower we had an incredible view of LHI and we were also treated to a sighting of the island's woodhen, which was once considered to be the rarest bird in the world (before being recovered in a captive breeding effort on the island). The woodhen is flightless and looks a lot like the kiwi (from New Zealand).
The descent was much faster than the climb, albeit tougher on our knees!
Over the course of the week we had plenty of opportunities to enjoy the view of the lagoon (western side of the island), both in the morning and as the sun was setting. It's certainly spectacular scenery and it looks different every time you see it.
The next day we went for a bit of a bike ride, before deciding to spend some time at the main surf beach on LHI - Blinkys Beach. Here Eli and I had great fun running around on the sand and making sandcastles, while the Hooper clan went for a hike to the top of Transit Hill.
In the afternoon we headed to the lagoon, which was out of the wind, for some more exploring...
The next day we headed back to Ned's beach and while Jeff, Paige, Addie and Ashford went for a hike up Malabar Hill, Eli and I stayed closer to sea level and enjoyed some more fossicking for treasure along the beach and in the rock pools. Eli also found another cave to explore, complete with a stunning view out towards the Admiralty Islands.
After a bit of exploring Eli found a sea urchin stranded on the beach, which was still alive because we noticed that the spines were moving. With no hesitation (he was largely unfazed by the spines), he decided to pick it up and return it to the ocean. I'm not sure if it survived, but the thought was nice.
The next day we went for another hike, along Settlement Beach, up over a big hill and down to North Bay. I was a bit worried about this adventure before we left, because I didn't know how well Eli would go with the long walk to and from our destination. It turns out that my fears were misplaced - Eli walked pretty much the whole way (no doubt buoyed by the fact that Addie is a great walker!), scaling what must have been a couple of hundred steps (at least) to get the crest of the hill and then down as many again to the beach. What a trooper!
We had North Bay to ourselves (until a boatload of lazy people arrived later in the morning) and we all had fun looking around on the beach.
Eli and I found a nudibranch, which again we returned to the ocean and there were also several different types of seabirds that weren't too bothered by our presence.
The underwater life was pretty different in this part of the lagoon - lots of seagrass and sponges close to shore, with some branching corals and more fish a bit further out.
The highlight for me was spotting a turtle resting under some coral and then getting a video of him swimming away...
After getting cold and wet in the rain, Eli and I decided to go for a short hike to Old Gulch, an incredible little embayment on the other side of the island. Here we saw lots of different seabirds and heaps of coral rubble.
On the way back to our bikes, parked at the southern end of Settlement Beach, we took a bit of a sidetrack up to Kim's Lookout (which meant that we had even more steps to climb!). Here's a photo of Eli and I celebrating our climb (with the Admiralty Islands in the background) and then one of our view of the island to the south, looking towards cloud-cloaked Mt Lidgbird (left) and Mt Gower (right).
We spent our last full day on LHI at our favourite spot at Ned's beach. Eli and Addie enjoyed feeding the fish in the shallows and then they hopped on their spyboards - which are basically just glass-bottomed boats for one. The spyboards enabled the kids to have a good look at the reef and all of the fish, although I do wonder what Eli saw since he basically just wanted me to find more and more sea grapes for him!
Here's a sample of what we encountered on our snorkel/spyboard exploration of the reef...
After Eli and Addie were back on the beach, Paige and I had one last snorkel. This time we were joined by half a dozen Galapagos sharks. The largest was about 1.5 m long and it was hard (impossible if you do the math) to keep your eye on all of them. Paige and I enjoyed it, for a while...
As you can tell from this post, we had an exciting, adventurous and non-stop holiday and Eli has had great fun telling everyone about our trip since we got home. I wonder where we'll go next...
