Lord Howe Island 2023

 

Our family spent a magical week in Jan 2023 on Lord Howe Island and fell in love with it vowing to return.

Lord Howe Island is a tiny Australian island in the Tasman Sea and is part of the State of NSW.  It is 10km long and 2km wide, there is only a few cars on the island so people get around on push bikes which is the first thing you do when you check into your accommodation – hire a bike for the week.   

The island is home to about 300 people with a controlled tourist population so it never feels busy and has the relaxed feeling of stepping back in time - like 70 years!  The island is a volcanic remanent including others in the region called Balls Pyramid and a cluster called The Admiralty Group all popular for diving.

Lord Howe is characterised by sandy beaches, subtropical forests and clear warm waters. In the south, a challenging trail winds up to Mount Gower, with sweeping views.  You need to go with a guide as its tricky to navigate and there are rope sections – really hard work!  There are other amazing walks on the island, Goat House Cave being one.

There is a protected main beach lagoon with great water sport activity and then there’s Ned's Beach in the north which has amazing fish and coral viewing with an honesty system for hiring gear and purchasing fish feed.

The island is also home to many seabird colonies, its delightful to hear the return of the mutton birds at night and the thump to the earth when they then go and find their burrows making squawking sounds.  Loved seeing the baby white terns, petrels and the many other species on the island.  The European introduction of dogs/cats/rats and pigs devastated some of the native animals and nearly killed off the population of Woodhens however with the recovery program since 1980 they have returned the population, so its nice seeing them running around the place too.

The water Jan is so warm and the coral and fish amazing.  We swam with large blue double header wrasse and the rainbow coloured wrasse, moorish idols and turtles - a huge variety.

Historically the island appeared to be uninhabited and was first reported by Europeans in 1788 leading to it becoming a provisioning port for the whaling industry and then later in the 1880’s becoming known for its Kentia palm export industry.  Now it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its untouched forest, unique plants and abundant bird and fish population.  Its a very special place where you can relax in unspoilt nature, kick back using bikes to get around and enjoy the great weather, scenery and sunsets. Highly recommend it.

Reaching the top of Mt Gower

Neds Beach fish feeding and snorkling