Bali High?

No, Lord Howe. Lord Who? An hour's plane ride off Australia's east coast, in the South Pacific, is an almost untouched, pristine, paradise island, which is unbelievably still part of New South Wales (the same state that Sydney is in). With no passport needed, no mobile phone networks, very limited internet and landlines, it is the perfect place to relax and take a break. Nana and I went for 10 days this April for our birthdays (we both turned 21 again...), and of course to do some much needed research on my latest AMS production, "South Pacific": it's the prettiest place I've ever seen. Nana had been several times already with grandpa, and it was a very special place for them, so she was very happy to go and reminisce, and I was very happy to see it for the first time! The view when you land is amazing-- the island is so small you can't miss the two towering mountains on the south end.


Lots of bushwalking trails with fantastic views at the end, not least of which the 3000ft Mt. Gower climb, which has to be done with a guide, and takes an entire day to walk to the summit and back. We left at 7 am, while nana waited anxiously at the bottom, and it involved a lot of climbing and walking along cliff edges, etc. These were all fine for me of course, and it wasn't until the way down when we reached a lake that I decided to fall in, and I have a lovely scar on my knee to prove I did the climb:) At the top of Mt. Gower, you can call the birds down by making any loud noise (in my case, I sang "Amazing Grace") and they will land at your feet. Once there, hey can't really get back up again without climbing a tree, so they don't mind being held and launched back into the air by humans! They were called "providence petrol" birds because they were such an easy lunch for hungry humans back in the day...In the pictures, Mt. Gower is the one on the right.

We also went out on a glass-bottomed boat and saw some sea turtles, and I took an around-the-island boat trip, and snorkeled around Ned's beach, where the fish are so tame they will eat from your hand. Lord Howe apparently has the southernmost reef in the world. The permanent population of the island is about 300 people, so it does get a bit inbred, with a limit of 400 tourists at a time, usually about 50 years old and up (it's an expensive place to be, as most food has to be flown in). The speed limit is 20 kph on the entire island, so you'll get around faster on a hired bike:) We saw the rare wood hen birds, brought back from the edge of distinction by the Lord Howe residents, and lots of other stupidly tame birds and marine wildlife.

The most exciting thing we did (thanks to nana) was go up in a small airplane for aerial views of the island. It's something you have to ask for because they don't offer it on brochures. It's just a stunning view, and much less scary than going in a commercial airplane! It afforded us amazing views of Ball's Pyramid, a triangular rock formation near the island, where only birds and a once-thought-to-be-extinct type of insect lives. Nana said our front-seat pilot was very good and the weather was perfect that day. Even though it was coming up on winter, and the weather could be very tempestuous and tropical-- it had its stunning moments and I got a tan:)

Definitely must go back.