Lord Howe Island Travel Guide

 tiabunna Says:  The accompanying photo doesn’t do the scene justice, I’m afraid. But it is very pleasant indeed to watch the sun set over the lagoon, while the palms sway gently above. It would probably be better in warm weather, with a cold glass of some interesting beverage close at... 

 tiabunna Says:  At Ned’s Beach, on the east coast, schools of kingfish come around every day to be hand fed. This was a long-established activity back in 1974 – and you too can participate in this curious event. Unfortunately I didn’t see it, so I was unable to obtain any photos. 

 tiabunna Says:  Although fishing was off my work agenda, walking was included. I was looking for a site to place instrumentation to measure the composition of the cleanest air that could be found. That meant we had to find a site with minimal local influences. I was interested in the saddle... 

 tiabunna Says:  I was on a work related trip, which made no provision for these activities. Much as the fishing apparently is excellent, particularly from a boat, I suspect I’d have had to do quite some explaining in my office about the ‘big one’ that I either caught (or, more likely, that... 

 tiabunna Says:  This may be a sub-tropical paradise, with warm ocean water from the current flowing down the eastern Australian coast, but I was not about to try a dip in the middle of winter! Should you go at a more sensible time of year, it looks marvellous with many lovely sandy beaches... 

 tiabunna Says:  Lord Howe has only one road, which runs for about 8km of its length before fading away near Mt Lidgbird to the south. There is an absolute 25km/hr speed limit and only a handful of vehicles. As a tourist, you have a choice of walking or hiring a bicycle, which is the normal... 

 tiabunna Says:  This vertical-sided sawtooth shaped rock rises 522 metres sheer from the ocean. It is about 25km from Lord Howe Island and clearly visible on a good day. It was not climbed until 1965, partly because of the difficulty of landing from a small boat, partly because climbing was... 

 tiabunna Says:   We were scheduled to stay on Lord Howe for two nights, leaving on the morning after that. The tides and need for clearance above reefs meant that possible flight times changed daily. On the second night of our stay the uncommon westerly winds had risen to gale strength. I... 

 tiabunna Says:   Not surprisingly, with a flying boat there are no covered gangways for boarding and disembarking. We had to climb from the flying boat into a small open motorboat to go ashore. As we did, I took this photo of the purser standing in the front mooring hatch – apart from his... 

 tiabunna Says:   Built during WWII as a Sunderland patrol aircraft, in 1947 the factory took it back and rebuilt it for passenger use: in 1974 she was the world’s last airworthy genuine Short Sandringham flying boat.. She proudly carried the name Beachcomber , was registered VH-BRC and... 

 tiabunna Says:   This photo, taken as we arrived, shows the south central part of the island, the cliffs of Mt Lidgbird disappearing into the clouds, and part of the reef and lagoon on the western side of the island. The prevailing winds here, particularly in the summer, are from the south... 

 tiabunna Says:   The sensations of takeoff and landing in a flying boat are somewhat different than in a jet. There is not the same urgent push in your back, just a gentle acceleration accompanied by bumping as the hull strikes small wavelets. Outside the ground does not rush past, instead...