Lord Howe Island Report |
Author : Gry Bastholm |
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Day one: This time we are heading for Lord Howe Island 429 nm northeast of Sydney. I have not had much time to read about this place but Lord Howe’s name has popped up many times in different contexts since I arrived in Australia. It is always being mentioned when the talk comes upon special places to visit nature wise. I am very excited. Lovely to be back; Little Swan always knows where to go for an adventure - this time in the Tasman sea. While my friends and family at home in Denmark wear thick woolly clothes and send me e-mails about flue, cough and miserable weather I am here in sunny New South Wales and feel truly lucky! We have a nice southerly wind. Just 40 nm off the coast the depth dropped to 4000 m and according to the charts there are some huge sea mounts in this area. The crew this time is besides me and skipper Toni, friends of Toni Peter Macdonald and Richu Stephani.
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Crew to Lord Howe Island |
Day two: Feeling seasick, am hungry but no food stays long inside - a struggle. I get even more sick when the guys are cooking and the smell comes into my cabin; I begin to regret that I have just spend a lot of money buying new sailing gear. What is fun about sailing?? How far away are we from that island? How come that I always forget how disgusting it is to be seasick???!! There must be some kind of memory lack for things like that in my brain, a sort of survival-memory-filter that makes sure I do not get traumas - in my case it just means I keep on doing the same stupid things!!! We had southerly wind for 12 hours then it turned and went straight for us, north-east and increased to 20-25 knots. We had to put “the diesel sails” up and sailed close hauled.
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Lord Howe Island |
Day three: busy being seasick, and no comments…. Well, the engine noise makes me crazy.
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Lord Howe Arrival |
Day four: We had to tack 100 nm from land which doubles the distance to sail. Wind on the quarter beam is not really my cup of tea; I feel a bit better but still can’t eat, so I am very weak. That island better be something special!!!
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Day four and a half: I see land!! We expected to arrive in three days time but because of the wrong winds (there’re a lot of “wrong” winds!) and all the tacking we have been longer on our way. Toni and my objective is to get up on top of Mount Gower. As I see it now from the water as a huge steep unfriendly tower with its summit hidden in the clouds and haven’t had anything to eat for four days, I feel as strong as a dehydrated earthworm - I have my doubts if I will make it. |
Repairing the sail |
| A couple of hours later: we are all on land and it is indeed a very special place. There are fluffy tern chicks sitting on the branches of the giant Norfolk Island pines along the lagoon road. The terns lay an egg on a bare branch and this is all the chick has for a nest. The water in the lagoon is turquoise and as clean as can be and we see the big sting rays passing by gracefully. On the top of the cliff you can watch the red-tailed tropic birds doing their acrobatic flight shows as they hitch a ride on the winds. Everywhere on this island there are bird colonies.
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White tern chick + White tern |
| One evening I went to the beach to see the mutton birds/flesh-feeted shearwaters come home after a long day at sea. They gather on the water near shore at dusk and then fly in the last bit of daylight to their nests hidden underground near the beach. They literally dump down right in front of you and hurries to their nests on their legs that is clearly not made for walking. In seconds they are under ground. You hear the birds calling out for their mates “pick me, pick me” with their high pitched cries. |
Mount Gower |
| And we did make it to the mountain top! To reach the summit we had to endure a good portion of exercise. We did 3? hours of mainly climbing - but to experience the cloud forest was definitely worth the effort. The summit of Mount Gower is a place with a very special atmosphere: ancient fern and moss covered trees; the yellow eyed Lord Howe Currawong greets you as you enter this sacred place and follows you as he jumps from branch to branch and looks curious and entertained by getting visitors. The cobber coloured wood hen comes towards you while quietly singing a never ending tune. In a patch of sunlight it spreads its wings and lay down on the ground. These animals don’t know fear or enemies.
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Mount Gower, Lord Howe Currawong |
| Lord Howe Island has 300 plants out of which a third is endemic to the island, 166 different bird species have been registered here and 6 are unique and endemic land birds. There are 500 fish species and because of a current that comes down the coast of Queens land and turns east at the latitude of Lord Howe Isl. the water temperature is above the limit of 17 degrees Celsius (it is near 26 degrees in summertime in this area) which makes it possible for corals to grow. The Tasman sea is other wise too cold for these creatures. It is the southernmost coral reef in the world with fish species from the Great Barrier Reef coming down as larvae on the sea currents.
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Walk to the Goat House Cave |
| Besides Lord Howe Island’s natural beauty which make many tourists come here, the endemic Kentia palm is also very important for the small population. The seeds have been harvested and sold to Europe since 1870. Today the palm is mainly grown at the nursery and exported.
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Balls Pyramid |
| My mind still filters out the not so funny experiences so I only vaguely remember the horrors described earlier. I love sailing! (the trip back was no problem). Carpe diem! |
| Gry Bastholm, crew on Little Swan |
Goat House Cave |
