A welcome stop
18 October 2008 | Norfolk Island
Jackie and Michael
After several days of mainly uncomfortable up-wind sailing, muscles sore from clinging on as we bumped our way along against the waves, we reached cascade bay on Norfolk Island about midnight on Friday. After an hour and a half we finally managed to anchor effectively and sat down to a blissfully comfortable meal followed by a proper night's sleep. Fantastic!
Woke revitalised and only then realised quite how rocky our anchorage was. Getting ashore at the jetty was pretty scary as the swells were so big and breaking just beyond the steps. No way could you leave a dingy there. Luckily John Hunt offered to ferry us ashore for customs and after that for our day out on the island. Also one of his crew was going to stay on board and keep an eye on the four boats. Both Storyteller and Southern Princess have taken on crew for the passage to NZ.
Norfolk island is a green speck in the Pacific, only about 5km by 8km. It is the largest of a cluster of three islands emerging from the Norfolk Ridge, which stretches from NZ to New Caledonia - the closest landfall 700km to the North. Its population is only 1800. After the penal colony ceased, Queen Victoria agreed to hand the island over the the descendants of the mutineers from HMS Bounty who had outgrown their adapted Pitcairn Island. About a third of the present population are descended from these original settlers. The island now is a self-governing external territory of Australia and is a tax haven and duty free zone. It was strange to see designer labels and Port Meirion china in the pretty little wooden shops in the small and beautifully manicured main town.
We hired a minibus and a car for the day and Bob (crew on Southern Princess) who had been to the island many times before took us on a tour around. It is a stunning place, so green, clean and fresh, with beautiful scenery. Cows and chickens have right of way on the roads, and all the cattle are plump and healthy looking - a great change from those on many other Pacific Islands. The vegetation is lush and to my mind quite unusual as the ubiquitous Norfolk Pine (a relative of the monkey puzzle tree) and grazed grassland is mixed with dense palms and tree ferns. Bananas and other tropical fruit also grow here most happily. In the morning we went for a tour around the island, stopping at all the tourist attractions. This included visiting the site of the former penal colony that continued until 1854. The beautiful Georgian buildings of the officers and lovely scenery were a strange contrast to imagining the brutal regime that operated there. After a very pleasant lunch we went for a couple of hours' walk along one of the very well marked and maintained trails in their National Park. Saw several brightly coloured parrots and had some stunning sea views as well as dark tunnels through the vegetation. Most enjoyable and got the legs working a bit. We stopped at the island brewery and bar on the way back to sample the local brew and slake our thirst. We followed this with an excellent meal of fish chowder and the best steaks we have had for a very long time. This was further enhanced by the good humour of the staff. All the locals we met were incredibly friendly and keen to chat. Several said they would come down and have a look at our boats in the bay.
We had another night here, and are leaving about mid-day today, Sunday.