Norfolk Island 5

Saturday 13 March 2021

This morning was spent packing and 'justing' while we waited to be picked up after an early lunch and taken to the airport. 

Our group. Photo supplied by Judy (far right) our calm and intrepid leader.

At the airport we lined up ready to check in with Judy in the lead. She found out that half the group was not on the flight manifest even though she had e-tickets for us all. Kerrie and I were in that group. We were moved to the side of the queues until much too-ing and fro-ing took place. After about half an hour or more we were allowed to check in,  spaces having been found for us on the flight.

Once we had loaded onto the plane there was a delay in leaving, the announcement came that they were waiting for instruction from the terminal which were being sent electronically. At this everyone in the plane laughed. Apparently more than just our hotel had slow internet.

As we flew west towards Sydney there was quite a lot of cloud cover but I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of Ball's Pyramid. It is an amazing lump of rock just off Lord Howe Is.

We eventually landed safely back in Sydney having covered most of the island seen here as pink roads on the map.

So what did I find out through my stay?

Norfolk Island is a small island in the South Pacific about level with Brisbane. It is 8km x 5km with a population of nearly 2000 people plus tourists.

The island is one large, hilly grazing paddock for cattle with many wooded areas of mostly Norfolk Island Pine and the introduced weedy African Olive. The National Park is natural wooded bushland with Norfolk Island pines, palms, tree ferns and shrubs.

All places in which cattle are not wanted are protected with cattle grids and electric fences. This includes the National Park, the town area, the airport and private gardens. Cattle have right of way on the roads and are all owned by someone and are all ear tagged. They are grown for meat and milk for the island.

The islanders are a mix of cultures, many descended from the Pitcairn Islanders who were Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions. These were the 3rd wave of "recent" inhabitants when they were granted ownership of the island by the British as the convict activities were folded up at Kingston (the 2nd wave). These current islanders have their own language which you can hear on occasions. The original British settlers (the 1st wave) were farming convicts and their military guard who were sent to take possession of the island so the French could not claim it. There is little evidence remaining from the 1st wave settlers.

Supplies on the island are either grown here seasonally or brought in by ship and air. With the Covid pandemic the supermarket shelves are quite bare but tourists have returned from Sydney. This is causing much distress about availability of goods. There is currently much talk about a supply ship from New Zealand that has broken down and now in lockdown due to another outbreak of Covid in Auckland. All supplies arriving by ship (including cars, buses, building supplies etc) are offloaded by hand to lighters that are then towed to the pier and unloaded. This can be a very precarious adventure in heavy seas. Because we did not witness this process I have various photos of pictures from the past.

To avoid this issue there are two piers for offloading, one on the north shore (Cascade Pier) and the main one on the south at Kingston. Fuel is delivered at Ball Bay and piped up to holding tanks there. Ball Bay is apparently a very deep harbour that was initially used for whaling. It is thought to be the original volcanic crater that formed the island.

There are no native mammals on the island but there are feral rats and cats as well as feral chooks and sparrows. There are no snakes, leeches or ticks so walking in the bush is quite safe. There are however, huge numbers of very large spiders and their webs. The rats and cats are being managed using double baits - the rats get the bait and the cats eat the rats.

It does seem very difficult to get reliable information about anything. Often tourists are told conflicting facts or just left in the dark about activities, history or places. The internet (at least at our hotel) seems very erratic, often dropping out or just extremely slow and is extremely expensive. Whether this is the case for all I am not sure. I suspect not. I reverted to pen and paper for my diary writing.

Power and water are, of course, limited and expensive but unfortunately visitors who have not experienced such shortages are quite annoyed by the limits imposed and expected. Some are also annoyed by the lack of all they want on demand e.g. orange juice, fresh milk, tomatoes (currently out of season here) etc etc. There are then complaints of tinned or frozen alternatives are used. I must say I will be pleased to return to real milk.

Public transport is non-existent. There is one Uber which has to be booked to make sure you get it. However, Pinetree Tours has been great, providing buses for all our needs, either large or small. We have also found that if you start walking people stop to offer lifts and are most generous and welcoming.

Island time is followed here - shops will open and close at odd times and there seems to be no consistency. Timetables are vague and clarification is difficult but we are all settled into the system. Even on the flight over it was implied that Norfolk Time was the same as Sydney Time (EST) but that was misleading too.

In all Norfolk Island is equivalent to a VERY remote Australian town with limited access to communication and supplies arriving every few weeks if you are lucky and susceptible to the vagaries of the weather and world pandemics.