Eera
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So last year our NZ trip was cancelled and we had credits with the travel agent, so we decided to go to Norfolk Island which is a 8 x 5 km speck in the pacific about halfway to NZ and up a bit from New Caledonia. We used to have a neighbour who came from the Island and had built the bar in the bowls club. After he died we always swore one day we'd get over there and have a drink in his honour at his bar.
Anyway, quick history lesson - settled initially by Polynesians who abandoned it after a bit. Rediscovered by Captain Cook, fast forward a bit and it became a penal colony for the convicts that Australia really, really didn't want. The island was largely abandoned by 1853. Come the Mutiny on the Bounty (there's a couple of films been made); the mutineers ended up on Pitcairn Island - which is even smaller - and many of their descendants were relocated to Norfolk Island in 1856 and to this day the phone book is full of Christians, Nobbs, Adams etc as the direct relatives of those mutineers.
It's an awesome place - amazing landscapes, wonderfully friendly people who don't have six fingers at all. Super safe - didn't bother locking doors and kept forgetting to take camera gear out of car but didn't worry me once. And it's still 1953 over there - there is for the most part no internet; you have to buy an island pass and stand in the middle of the road to get reception; I think they only have a 2G network so most smart phones won't work. There are no fences around fields so cows wander up and down the streets and when you're in a car everyone waves at you and you have to wave back. No streetlights either.
Initially the kids were traumatised about having to be parted from their iPads but after a couple of days they discovered that there's an outside and it can actually be a fun place. Because they don't feel the cold we'd spend each afternoon down at the swimming beach at Emily Bay (where the majority of the convict ruins are) and just got away from modern life.
Anyway. I had a 14-stop ND filter with me so basically did nothing but long exposures. I also hate blue skies so have stolen a couple of the husband's photos to show it's not all gloomy there.
If you've got the chance, go. It's a different lifestyle that we don't get to experience much these days.
Anyway, quick history lesson - settled initially by Polynesians who abandoned it after a bit. Rediscovered by Captain Cook, fast forward a bit and it became a penal colony for the convicts that Australia really, really didn't want. The island was largely abandoned by 1853. Come the Mutiny on the Bounty (there's a couple of films been made); the mutineers ended up on Pitcairn Island - which is even smaller - and many of their descendants were relocated to Norfolk Island in 1856 and to this day the phone book is full of Christians, Nobbs, Adams etc as the direct relatives of those mutineers.
It's an awesome place - amazing landscapes, wonderfully friendly people who don't have six fingers at all. Super safe - didn't bother locking doors and kept forgetting to take camera gear out of car but didn't worry me once. And it's still 1953 over there - there is for the most part no internet; you have to buy an island pass and stand in the middle of the road to get reception; I think they only have a 2G network so most smart phones won't work. There are no fences around fields so cows wander up and down the streets and when you're in a car everyone waves at you and you have to wave back. No streetlights either.
Initially the kids were traumatised about having to be parted from their iPads but after a couple of days they discovered that there's an outside and it can actually be a fun place. Because they don't feel the cold we'd spend each afternoon down at the swimming beach at Emily Bay (where the majority of the convict ruins are) and just got away from modern life.
Anyway. I had a 14-stop ND filter with me so basically did nothing but long exposures. I also hate blue skies so have stolen a couple of the husband's photos to show it's not all gloomy there.
If you've got the chance, go. It's a different lifestyle that we don't get to experience much these days.