No visitor to Norfolk Island would miss the green hand symbol. One town block is covered in these symbols of opposition to what the locals see as the Australian Government’s takeover of Norfolk island in 2016. As far as they were concerned, Queen Victoria had given the Pitcairners Norfolk Island in perpetuity. The sign reads:…
I confess I never watched any of the several movies made about the Mutiny on the Bounty. But it is a fascinating story and is the fountainhead of today’s Norfolk Island population. In 1789, HMS Bounty was returning from Tahiti after a mission to collect breadfruit plants for transport to the West Indies. Tensions had…
One of the ‘organized’ items on our tour was an evening at Norfolk Island’s famous fish fry. We’d been before on a wonderful summer evening, gathering at Orn Da Cliff for the event. You’ll no doubt work out from the name that the site is high up on a cliff, facing west. The sunset on…
When I signed us up for this trip to Norfolk Island I suppose I had a fond notion that the advertised 200th anniversary was for the arrival of the Pitcairn descendants of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Silly me. Elementary research would have shown me that 2025 was the anniversary of the establishment of Norfolk’s…
Norfolk Island. It’s a speck in the South Pacific about 1,600 km east of Sydney. At about 8km long and 5km wide, the island is an erosional remnant of a once-larger volcanic structure sticking out of the sea. It enjoys a sub-tropical Goldilocks climate, beautiful scenery and a laid-back lifestyle. Perfect for a week of…
Last year Peter and I had gone on a conducted tour of Kingston’s convict ruins with a descendant of the Christian family. I’d strongly suggest that anybody going to Norfolk for the first time attends the tours. The guides are mines of information, telling stories of convicts and jailers, painting a vivid picture of the…
The nicest thing about doing your own thing on Norfolk Island is you can take your time and stop anywhere you want. It’s hard to imagine but no, we hadn’t seen the whole island on our visit last year. This time we stopped off at every picnic spot along the cliffs to admire the wonderful…
When visitors arrive on Norfolk Island they’re picked up by a tour bus and taken for a half-day orientation tour, with the guide pointing out the main attractions. After a quick trip through the main township at Burnt Pine, featuring one roundabout and absolutely no traffic lights, we stop briefly at the lookout above Kingston,…
We had a fascinating, memorable Christmas on Norfolk Island in 2017 and enjoyed it so much we went again in 2018. While we’d been with a group in 2017, in 2018 we did our own thing, visiting places we hadn’t reached the previous year, or re-visiting places where we would have liked a bit more…
I’ve been persuaded to write one more Norfolk article, on account of having forgotten a few things I’m told I should have mentioned <sigh>. I mentioned the little trip in the horse-drawn cart, but said no more since I didn’t go. I love horses, but they have a very nasty effect on me which has…