Tag Archives: Lord Howe Island

Lord Howe Island – Behind the Scenes

I’ll end our look at Lord Howe Island with some photos of aspects of life that is not in those beautiful vista photos. After all, the island does survive on tourism. So how do they keep all those people and where does the waste go?

I can only answer some of those questions. I think the island tries its best to keep everything it does in-house as the only two methods of transport are…

Lord Howe Island - behind the scenes
Cargo ship docked at Lord Howe Island – once a fortnight.
Lord Howe Island - behind the scenes
QantasLink flight, once or twice a day (or none) – dependent on weather conditions.

That’s pretty much it. So everything has to be shipped it and out on either way.

Once you get walking around the island, you might notice quite a bit of pastureland in the middle.

Lord Howe Island - behind the scenes
Pastures at the back of the settlement.

It’s generally used as grazing land for the island’s dairy cow herd. You’ll see them throughout the island.

So the island gets fresh milk each day. There are also vegetable gardens that grow well in the moist, volcanic soil.

Lord Howe Island - behind the scenes
Gardens at Pine Trees Lodge.

So there is fresh produce available, albeit the grow-your-own variety.

And the island has an extensive solar panel system, that I heard will be expanded. And of course, everyone is on rainwater tank (no shortage of rain here).

Lord Howe Island - behind the scenes

I heard that recycling is collected but has to be shipped off the island for processing, so our accommodation had compostable throwaways.

Anyway, it’s good to see the island doing all it can to be sustainable.

And that’s all she wrote for Lord Howe Island. I hope these posts have given you a good taster if you’re thinking of going, or jog your memory if you’ve already been. It’s definitely worth while making the effort to visit.

And given that this holiday was in 2020, I’ve got plenty more trips to catch up on!

Lord Howe Island – Under the Canopy

Despite the presence of settlers for almost 190 years, the island still retains much of its original vegetation. That vegetation is in the form of subtropical rainforest. With the impressive landforms of Mounts Lidgbird and Gower (the remnants of a 7 million year old volcano) that drop off right into the ocean, the landscape is very Jurassic Park– like.

Under Mount Gower
Little Island Track.
Under Mount Gower
Under Mount Gower
Under the Canopy

You can see the presence of Kentia palms everywhere in the rainforest. These palms are commonly found as indoor plants everywhere around the world from back in the 19th Century.

Under the Canopy

Aside from these palms, there is also a variety of strangler vines and multi-coloured fungi.

Strangler Figs
Forest fungi

All of this is a short stroll from civilisation – and with the both easy and challenging tracks about, and the lack of stinging insects, it means that this rainforest is just about perfect (for me anyway)!