I've just been over to Lord Howe Island for a week.It's a World Heritage Listed island of the Coast of NSW Australia.It has the southern most coral reefs in Australia and teeming birdlife , rainforest and is a terrific place if you want to go somewhere that is friendly , laid back , beautiful and peaceful.
There are many walks on the island only about 10 or so cars and they have a speed limit of 25kms an hour.Most people ride bikes.The overall impression is of palm trees etc as all the houses are set back in the 'bush'.The only time you really notice most of them is when you climb a hill and look down.
I went over there for windsurfing walking and I intended to paint.I posted my easel and paints over the week before but they neglected to tell me if it wasn't sent express post it would go by ship which only goes once fortnight.My gear got there when I was leaving..I still haven't seen it.
The weather was interesting as there was a low pressure system over us so there were thunderstorms coming over with sunny breaks. I had a few sunny days.
The sailboarding hire is run out of a boatshed but the first day the wind direction wasn't suitable to sail from there so they put all the boards and sail etc in a ute and went down to the other end of the island.The boards were set up ready in the middle of the golf course that bordered the water.
A massive thunderstorm came through before we got into the water so we were all in standing/ lying underneath our sails to keep dry. Just when we thought it was safe to come out we had to take cover again as we were right in the line of fire of a golfer !
I ended up having a nice sail when the inbetween storms.At the end of the week four 14' beaked whales came into the lagoon at high tide. On low tide they tried to get out over the reef and ripped themselves to bits on the coral.Then small reef sharks came and started to eat them. The locals went out with a boat and towed the bodies in and took them away to bury them. Everyone was very upset. My fellow sailboarders were out zipping about in the fresh wind and came upon a glassy patch. Usually this means there is no wind so they prepared to fall in but it was the whale oil from the injured whales smoothing the waters! They could smell it.
Here are some pics of the week.
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| The Lagoon from the plane |
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Below - The lagoon in it's many moods..
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| The Lagoon from where the boards were kept. |
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| Sunset from Kim's Lookout - the large peaks are Mt Gower and Mt Lidgcomb |
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| Looking down at my feet feeding the fish at Ned's Beach - they were getting washed up against me with the surge..Silly me decided to try and pick up one of the mullet ( long silver ones).Of course they got away but one of the other larger fish decided my finger looked good..Ow!! Lucky it wasn't a kingfish or my finger would have been shredded..That will teach me! LOL"s | |
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| Much of the waters of the island are a Marine reserve so the fish are protected.They are fed daily at this beach and hang around in ankle deep water waiting to be fed. |
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| A storm like the one we got caught in at the Golfcourse.It is up at the base below the first mountain. |
The other end of the Lagoon from where we sailboarded.
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| View from a lookout |
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