r/geography • u/ISwallowedABug412 • 1d ago
Question Anyone been the the beautiful Australian island paradise called Lord Howe Island off the coast of eastern Australia? Looks so inviting. Should I put this on my bucket list?
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u/rmunderway 1d ago
It’s not that great. There’s only 2 McDonalds and they aren’t even open late.
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u/Proud_Relief_9359 1d ago
Went there last year. It is a very expensive holiday because everything has to be brought in by plane or boat. Meals that would cost $30 in Sydney cost $50-$60 there.
But it is truly as beautiful as it looks in the photos, and very sedate and calm. You can climb that mountain you see in the background of the photo, it is a hard day trip but people in their 60s were doing it without issues and the views and wildlife are spectacular.
Amazing diving and coral that you can pretty much see from the shore, though it’s better with a dive boat.
If it is a bucket list item, my advice would be to go soon. The tiny local community there is a bit split between people who want to keep it as a low-key, borderline affordable destination, and others who want to go WAY WAY upmarket. A few very expensive and exclusive resorts have opened in recent years. All sides seem to agree that they don’t want more than 400 residents at any one time.
My bet is that this is going to lead quite soon to it becoming a Mustique-style hangout for celebrities and the super rich. It is extremely private, gorgeous, and fundamentally expensive because of the location. “Supply” of living on LHI is very limited — only 400 people! — but as far as “demand” goes, the sky is the limit. It is a unique place in the world and the only real drawback is that the airstrip is small so it is only really reachable from Sydney.
When demand runs way ahead of supply the result is soaring prices. At the moment I would guess tourism there is pretty much run at cost. Our hotel owner was from an old island family who had been planting palms since the 1830s, so had lots of “assets” but seemed to live a pretty normal middle-class life — the only luxury being boarding high school for the kids on the mainland, which I would imagine is pretty much a necessity given the limited educational options on the island. But she had a brother who is currently building a very, very luxey resort, and that is where I think it is heading soon.
The island has been kept somewhat-affordable for a generation by social norms, basically, but I think quite soon the laws of economics will make it very, very exclusive.
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u/ISwallowedABug412 1d ago
Thank you so much for that information. Would you consider a place to go to just relax and sit on the beach? There doesn’t seem to be that much to do. Yes, hiking the mountain. I would do that. But basically you’re there just to relax. Correct?
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u/Proud_Relief_9359 1d ago
Yup. There is literally nothing to do other than lounge on the beach except hike or snorkel/dive/fish. There is a golf course if you are in to that, but really it is just an amazing place to unplug and unwind. Which is perfect!
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u/toddharrisb 1d ago
I know this island because it's where Kentia Palms are endemic to. Apparently it has been a big part of their economy ever since they became in vogue under the reign of Queen Victoria.
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u/t3h_shammy 1d ago
I have lived my entire life in florida and i have no idea what a norfolk pine or a howe island pine is. but thank u for this service
edit:
After review I see this bitches everywhere
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u/Live-Tomorrow-4865 1d ago
"So farewell to the Norfolk Island Pines..
No amount of make believe could help this heart of mine...
Your Dreamworld is just about to end..." 🎼🎶🎵
Love that song! 😍😍
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u/Munk45 1d ago
90% sure you just made this up
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u/Tough-Photograph6073 1d ago
Why do you think they made that up? I'm from Florida and they're right.
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u/MonsteraBigTits 1d ago
idk google it yourself. the reason i know is cause i work w/plants as my jerb
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u/radbradradbradrad 1d ago
A simple google search says that “jerb” is slang for a very dirty thing. Maybe google isn’t the best means of information getting in all cases 😂
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u/Direlion 1d ago
My friend did his divemaster on Lord Howe island. I still have a postcard on my refrigerator from his time there. It’s a a unique place. A really wild looking rock structure called Ball’s Pyramid sits near the island which draws sightseers as well.
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u/synaptic_reaction 1d ago
Lord Howe is an amazing success story for the removal of invasive rodents and recovery of the native woodhen.
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u/furcifernova 1d ago
They had me at "Lord Howe Island is the only place in Australia without snakes."
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u/filoroll 1d ago
I went there a long time ago. The owner of the hotel let me stay in his staff accommodation and he picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at the bicycle hire shop. There was no public transportation and no phone reception. There was one pay phone to call the restaurants around the island. The residents bought heaps of groceries on the plane from Sydney and we had to be weighed before getting on the plane. I spent most of my holiday riding around the island, going hiking and sitting on the beach by myself. Don’t forget to bring a torch.
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u/DanOwen46 1d ago
My grandparents lived there for a good number of years during the 50s. Apparently a beautiful island with a small community, some of whom still live there today. Even got its own cricket team. I was also told there are spiders hanging literally everywhere.
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u/Appropriate_Ad7858 1d ago
Went 10 years ago. Absolutely loved it. Lord Howe pics
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u/ISwallowedABug412 1d ago
Thanks for providing the link to your pics. Absolutely stunning. Are there nice sandy beaches to relax on? I do hear it's pretty expensive to visit. Yes?
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u/Appropriate_Ad7858 22h ago
I wouldn’t go to Lord Howe for nice sandy beaches. Much cheaper easier and equally or better on the Mainland. Not saying the beaches are bad, just not place if go just for beaches.
It is/was extremely tranquil and very relaxing , so much so, that the 4-5 days we did there was enough for us. Gets a bit boring (for us anyways) after that.
As explained elsewhere, as it has a monopoly on flights and accommodation , its not a budget destination. We could have flown to much further places for the same price as a Lord Howe flight.
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u/thatssubjective 1d ago
Been there done that. Do it again. And again. Not many Australians even know about it. Climbing mt Gower is a must.
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u/ISwallowedABug412 1d ago
Is it a hard climb? I am a 65-year-old man who is very active and loves to hike and climb.
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u/Proud_Relief_9359 23h ago
You would have no issues. There are some sections where you have to pull yourself up steep slopes on ropes and a few places where people with vertigo or fear of heights might struggle a bit, but less active people than you were doing it when I went. The cloud forest at the top — a few acres of unique montane ecosystem on a mountain in the middle of the ocean — is utterly magical.
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u/thatssubjective 5h ago
What they said. You need to book and hike in a group so there is usually people that take their time. Which is perfect for enjoying the amount you can see, the views, the flora and the fauna are top notch.
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u/BasicallyBoothStreet 1d ago
No, don’t go there. It’s teeming with drop-bears. 0 stars. Would not recommend.
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u/TwoRight9509 1d ago
Is it as populated by venomous spiders and snakes as mainland Australia seems to be?
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u/FITGuard 1d ago
No snakes
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u/TwoRight9509 1d ago
Are you just saying that or am I booking my ticket tomorrow?
No need to answer. I’m booking the ticket.
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u/kearsargeII Physical Geography 1d ago edited 1d ago
Place has some fascinating native wildlife. The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect is extinct in the wild there, but was once common The survival of the species is crazy, The population of the insects on the main island was wiped out by rats in the early 1900s and believed extinct. A survey of marginal vegetation on the sides of Balls Pyramid not far from Lord Howe Island found a tiny colony of the insects there in 2001. From that population of a couple dozen induviduals living on the side of a sheer cliff, feeding on a single shrub, zoos were able to breed the species back to hundreds, though they have yet to be reintroduced to Lord Howe Island.
In the Pleistocene, Lord Howe Island was much bigger and supported turtles that looked like minature ankylosaurs, with tail spikes, and horned heads.