tiabunna's photos
The northern cliffs
The northern end of Lord Howe Island is fronted by cliffs over 200 metres high. (Second image in note).
Lagoon panorama
A stitched panorama of the Lord Howe Island lagoon. This needs to be viewed large.
In the forests #2
The forests of Lord Howe Island have a high proportion of palms. If you are familiar with indoor potted palms, the chances are they are Kentia Palms, such as these, originally from Lord Howe and now found worldwide indoors.
In the forests #1
One of the marvellous trees in the Lord Howe Island forests.
The ship's in!
Most of the freight to Lord Howe Island is carried by this small trading vessel which visits fortnightly. We were fortunate that our visit coincided with an arrival. Here's a musical link. HFF, everyone, and best wishes for the weekend. (View large.)
Feeding time at Ned's Beach
Lord Howe Island is in a Marine Sanctuary. At Ned's Beach (previous image) the wild fish swim right around to be hand fed. There even is a coin-operated fish food dispenser (in the beach hut visible in the wider image of the beach).
Down on Ned's Beach
I thought the strata in the sand on the headland were interesting. The water was pleasantly warm to wade in for the fish feeding (next image, also in clickable note).
Ned's Beach from above
Ned's Beach is on the eastern side of Lord Howe Island, not far from the main residential area. The note (clickable) leads down to water level.
A good news story
There aren't enough good news stories, but this is one. These are Lord Howe Woodhens (Gallirallus sylvestris) . They are classed as "Endangered" because they are endemic to only this island and the total number is only about 400. How can that be good news? Because there were only about 30 in the mid-1970s and 15 by 1980! Since then there was an intensive breeding programme and an ongoing campaign to rid the island of feral species destroying wildlife and habitat: there now are no wild pigs or goats on the island (both introduced as food for passing sailors in the 1800s), all cats also have now been removed, and there is an ongoing programme to eliminate rats. I was delighted to see these deep in the forest, on the walk down from Intermediate Peak - (see also notes).
