A perfect getaway
Royal Engineers Office, Kingston
Norfolk Island is located about two hours by plane from Sydney, Air New Zealand makes return flights on Mondays and Fridays. It also flies from Brisbane, Tuesdays and Saturdays.
I became interested in visiting Norfolk a few years back but ended up travelling to an island closer to home, Tasmania! The time had come for me to pay Norfolk a visit, I flew in on the Monday and out again on the Friday so a quick visit to see if I would enjoy it.
I ended up loving my short visit and plan to return some time in the future. It was the perfect location for me, although tourism is their main industry, the number of tourists isn't huge, it's not a location that's on the backpackers' trail. The island has an interesting colonial past, it's very scenic and very easy to get around. (although most of the roads could do with some serious work!)
The island has some distinct periods in its history, there's the very early era of polynesian settlement. Pacific Islanders had settled on Norfolk, they introduced banana trees to the island and planted them in rows in a valley, they later abandoned the island. Captain James Cook found the island in his second South Pacific voyage and named it Norfolk Island for the Duchess of Norfolk. The first convict settlement was established soon after the Sydney Cove settlement, it was closed after 25 years and all the timber buildings burnt, so nothing remains from that time. The convict settlement was reopened in 1825 for the 'worst of the worst' prisoners and they were the ones who built the heritage buildings that can be found in Kingston today. The convict settlement was closed in 1855 as transportation to Australia had stopped and in June 1856 descendants of the Bounty Mutineers were brought from Pitcairn Island to Norfolk. Many of their descendants are still on the island today.
Kingston Jetty
Norfolk doesn't have a harbour but the convicts built this jetty at Kingston and it's still used today. The southern part of the island has rougher weather so ships also unload on the northern side of the island at Cascade Bay which is where the whaling station had been located.
Kingston is the island's capital but the whole area is now a World Heritage Site and the buildings are mainly used as museums. The main township with shops, facilities such as a bank, restaurants and cafes is 'up the road' (literally you go up!) at Burnt Pine.
The New Barracks Administrative Building
The New Barracks were built in 1838, there originally were three buildings, there's two main ones now. The eastern building was for the soldiers after the arrival of the Pitcairn Islanders it was used as a school and a postoffice. It's now the office of the Norfolk Island Administration. The building to the right was the officers quarters and was given to the Adams family when they arrived from Pitcairn Island.
The former Commissariat and now All Saints Church
The second convict settlement left an impressive collection of Georgian buildings and these have been nicely preserved. The Commissariat building has a museum on the ground floor explaining the various settlements of the island.
Number 9 Quality Row
The engineers that laid out the township of Kingston created a row of houses for the officers and their wives. This was known as Military Row, when the Pitcairners arrived and were given the houses it was renamed Quality Row. Number 9 is open to the public and displayed as it was during the nineteenth century, it was the best preserved of the houses as it had no electrical power and no running water. Cows roam freely around the island, they keep the grass down at the edge of the roads!
Government House
New Barracks
Emily Bay Cemetery
Up the road from the main buildings of Kingston is the cemetery, it has historic graves as well as more recent ones. This path leads out onto the beach, the closest headstones belonged to the soldiers who died, many by drowning, during the convict years. Then there are the headstones of convicts including ones who were executed for being the ringleaders in mutinies at the prison.
Headstones belonging to the Pitcairners
Funerals are a community event on Norfolk, there was one during the time I was there. I saw the flags around the island at half mast and wondered which world leader had died! It was one of the islanders and her funeral was that day.
Away from the cemetery Emily Bay has a lovely beach and it has good snorkelling. It was a bit too cool for me, 23 degrees celsius and overcast isn't my idea of beach weather!
Emily Bay beach
I was based at Burnt Pine and was able to wander around there, the different areas on Norfolk are all very walkable. You just need to drive between them! I had a hire car organised by my accomodation, as all the hire cars advertised their companies, it was obvious that I wasn't the only tourist driving around the island! I learnt the road etiquette to raise your hand or a few fingers in greeting to the cars coming towards you. I forgot at first and then it became automatic!!
The Queen Victoria Gardens
By the mid 1850s Pitcairn Island had become somewhat crowded and it couldn't support the amount of people living on it. The Pitcairners sent a request to the UK to be relocated and Queen Victoria gave them the right to live on Norfolk Island, which had closed as a penal settlement. The whole population of Pitcairn of 193 people landed on Norfolk on June 8th 1856. (194 landed as a baby boy was born on the way over)
Anson Bay
My first morning I did an orientation tour of the island and the guide stopped at this lovely location for morning tea.
View from Mt. Pitt
Mount Bates is the highest point on the island, but Mt. Pitt has the best lookout. Here we're looking out over the airport to Philip Island, there's a cruise ship heading out to sea. The ship had stopped by the island at Cascade Bay (the more sheltered side) that morning and passengers were brought ashore and did tours of the island. Cruise ships only disembark their passengers if the captain of the ship deems that it's safe to do so, there's no guarantee that you'll come ashore if the weather is rough the ship just circles the island.
The airstrip was built during World War II, Norfolk was used as a refuelling stop in the Pacific war. A valley was flattened as well as a row of historic Norfolk Pines, but after the war the airstrip did open the island up to air travel and the beginning of the tourism industry.
There's a short hike (only 500m!) from Mt. Pitt to Mt. Bates, so just to say I had been to the highest point on the island I did the hike, well walk. During World War II, Mt. Bates had a radar station on its summit and there are a few remains today.
Remains from the Radar Station on Mt. Bates
Captain Cook named and claimed the island for Great Britain, he landed on the northern side and thought the Norfolk Pines would make good trees for ship's masts and the flax was used to make rope. There's a monument to Captain Cook and some great scenery from the lookout there.
View from Captain Cook's lookout
Cathedral Rock
Wild hen with 2 chicks
Cows aren't the only free range domestic animals on the island, chickens are as well. My first surprise on day one was going to the local supermarket in Burnt Pine and seeing a chicken walking around the carpark! I came across chickens, very loud roosters, cows and geese all wandering around the countryside. Apparently before they put the cattle grids on the roads leading into Burnt Pine the cows would wander down the street and into the buildings! There are gates next to the cattle grids to people to walk through with large signs saying 'Please shut the gate' otherwise those pesky cows would wander through!
I really enjoyed the whole experience of exploring Norfolk Island, I liked the quaintness of everyone knowing each other and the slower pace of doing things. Most places closed by about 3pm and even the museums were shut by 4pm, Norfolk isn't a place to rush around trying to fit in as much as possible. I've even left a few things for my next visit! I enjoyed it so much I'm planning on a return visit!
Norfolk Island is located about two hours by plane from Sydney, Air New Zealand makes return flights on Mondays and Fridays. It also flies from Brisbane, Tuesdays and Saturdays.
I became interested in visiting Norfolk a few years back but ended up travelling to an island closer to home, Tasmania! The time had come for me to pay Norfolk a visit, I flew in on the Monday and out again on the Friday so a quick visit to see if I would enjoy it.
I ended up loving my short visit and plan to return some time in the future. It was the perfect location for me, although tourism is their main industry, the number of tourists isn't huge, it's not a location that's on the backpackers' trail. The island has an interesting colonial past, it's very scenic and very easy to get around. (although most of the roads could do with some serious work!)
The island has some distinct periods in its history, there's the very early era of polynesian settlement. Pacific Islanders had settled on Norfolk, they introduced banana trees to the island and planted them in rows in a valley, they later abandoned the island. Captain James Cook found the island in his second South Pacific voyage and named it Norfolk Island for the Duchess of Norfolk. The first convict settlement was established soon after the Sydney Cove settlement, it was closed after 25 years and all the timber buildings burnt, so nothing remains from that time. The convict settlement was reopened in 1825 for the 'worst of the worst' prisoners and they were the ones who built the heritage buildings that can be found in Kingston today. The convict settlement was closed in 1855 as transportation to Australia had stopped and in June 1856 descendants of the Bounty Mutineers were brought from Pitcairn Island to Norfolk. Many of their descendants are still on the island today.
Norfolk doesn't have a harbour but the convicts built this jetty at Kingston and it's still used today. The southern part of the island has rougher weather so ships also unload on the northern side of the island at Cascade Bay which is where the whaling station had been located.
Kingston is the island's capital but the whole area is now a World Heritage Site and the buildings are mainly used as museums. The main township with shops, facilities such as a bank, restaurants and cafes is 'up the road' (literally you go up!) at Burnt Pine.
The New Barracks were built in 1838, there originally were three buildings, there's two main ones now. The eastern building was for the soldiers after the arrival of the Pitcairn Islanders it was used as a school and a postoffice. It's now the office of the Norfolk Island Administration. The building to the right was the officers quarters and was given to the Adams family when they arrived from Pitcairn Island.
The second convict settlement left an impressive collection of Georgian buildings and these have been nicely preserved. The Commissariat building has a museum on the ground floor explaining the various settlements of the island.
The engineers that laid out the township of Kingston created a row of houses for the officers and their wives. This was known as Military Row, when the Pitcairners arrived and were given the houses it was renamed Quality Row. Number 9 is open to the public and displayed as it was during the nineteenth century, it was the best preserved of the houses as it had no electrical power and no running water. Cows roam freely around the island, they keep the grass down at the edge of the roads!
Up the road from the main buildings of Kingston is the cemetery, it has historic graves as well as more recent ones. This path leads out onto the beach, the closest headstones belonged to the soldiers who died, many by drowning, during the convict years. Then there are the headstones of convicts including ones who were executed for being the ringleaders in mutinies at the prison.
Funerals are a community event on Norfolk, there was one during the time I was there. I saw the flags around the island at half mast and wondered which world leader had died! It was one of the islanders and her funeral was that day.
Away from the cemetery Emily Bay has a lovely beach and it has good snorkelling. It was a bit too cool for me, 23 degrees celsius and overcast isn't my idea of beach weather!
I was based at Burnt Pine and was able to wander around there, the different areas on Norfolk are all very walkable. You just need to drive between them! I had a hire car organised by my accomodation, as all the hire cars advertised their companies, it was obvious that I wasn't the only tourist driving around the island! I learnt the road etiquette to raise your hand or a few fingers in greeting to the cars coming towards you. I forgot at first and then it became automatic!!
By the mid 1850s Pitcairn Island had become somewhat crowded and it couldn't support the amount of people living on it. The Pitcairners sent a request to the UK to be relocated and Queen Victoria gave them the right to live on Norfolk Island, which had closed as a penal settlement. The whole population of Pitcairn of 193 people landed on Norfolk on June 8th 1856. (194 landed as a baby boy was born on the way over)
My first morning I did an orientation tour of the island and the guide stopped at this lovely location for morning tea.
Mount Bates is the highest point on the island, but Mt. Pitt has the best lookout. Here we're looking out over the airport to Philip Island, there's a cruise ship heading out to sea. The ship had stopped by the island at Cascade Bay (the more sheltered side) that morning and passengers were brought ashore and did tours of the island. Cruise ships only disembark their passengers if the captain of the ship deems that it's safe to do so, there's no guarantee that you'll come ashore if the weather is rough the ship just circles the island.
The airstrip was built during World War II, Norfolk was used as a refuelling stop in the Pacific war. A valley was flattened as well as a row of historic Norfolk Pines, but after the war the airstrip did open the island up to air travel and the beginning of the tourism industry.
There's a short hike (only 500m!) from Mt. Pitt to Mt. Bates, so just to say I had been to the highest point on the island I did the hike, well walk. During World War II, Mt. Bates had a radar station on its summit and there are a few remains today.
Captain Cook named and claimed the island for Great Britain, he landed on the northern side and thought the Norfolk Pines would make good trees for ship's masts and the flax was used to make rope. There's a monument to Captain Cook and some great scenery from the lookout there.
Cows aren't the only free range domestic animals on the island, chickens are as well. My first surprise on day one was going to the local supermarket in Burnt Pine and seeing a chicken walking around the carpark! I came across chickens, very loud roosters, cows and geese all wandering around the countryside. Apparently before they put the cattle grids on the roads leading into Burnt Pine the cows would wander down the street and into the buildings! There are gates next to the cattle grids to people to walk through with large signs saying 'Please shut the gate' otherwise those pesky cows would wander through!
I really enjoyed the whole experience of exploring Norfolk Island, I liked the quaintness of everyone knowing each other and the slower pace of doing things. Most places closed by about 3pm and even the museums were shut by 4pm, Norfolk isn't a place to rush around trying to fit in as much as possible. I've even left a few things for my next visit! I enjoyed it so much I'm planning on a return visit!
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