TRAVEL FACTS
GETTINGTHERE
Qantas flies to Norfolk Island from Sydney and Brisbane. All passengers must apply for a Norfolk Island Entry Pass. qantas.com
EXPERIENCES facebook.com/norfolkislanddiving norfolkislandgolf.com bedrockbodymindspirit.com.au fishnorfolkisland.com.au INFORMATION norfolkisland.com.au
comparison, of course – I’m top-to-toe in neoprene, front-to-back in scuba gear and there’s Toblerone chilling in my esky.
Underwater, the reef crackles and pops like breakfast cereal. Coral-crusted chimneys, chasms, caves and tunnels swarm with schools of drummer, kingfish, trumpeter and snapper. Stingrays soar on currents like submarine albatrosses, green turtles make dashing cameo appearances and sharks cruise past with ‘border patrol’ authority.
ULURU OF THE PACIFIC
Emily Bay, however, is not a deep dive, 20 metres at most. More immersive experiences to 40 metres are available in the waters surrounding neighbouring Nepean and Phillip islands.
So once again we’re dangling from a crane – this time at Kingston Pier on the southern side of Norfolk, ready for the six-kilometre boat trip to Phillip Island. Once there, we take off our shoes to leap to a slippery rock platform in our socks – a gripping tip from skipper David Bigg, who dances his boat in the swirling shore surge so we can jump ship safely.
Why is Phillip Island called the ‘Uluru of the South Pacific’? Sure, it’s a big rock, but the nickname seems meaningless at sea level. Puffing at the top of a rope climb and several timber-ladder paths, I begin to understand why – it’s a landscape like nothing else on Earth. Red, purple, ochre, white and yellow soils have been windchiselled into dramatic valleys, wild-looking sand dunes and strange rocky outcrops. Earth colours made unworldly, like Mars and the Red Centre on the same playing field.
Feathered squadrons perform a constant fly-past – petrels, gannets, sooty terns, shearwaters, noddies and the elegant red-tailed tropicbird – here to breed, nest and leave. What you won’t see is one of the world’s most fascinating insects, the giant Phillip Island centipede which preys at night on seabird chicks snuggled in burrows. A bird-eating centipede…
I’m glad to be here in the daylight.
THE GRASS IS GREENER
Back on Norfolk we go our separate ways – the massage people and the golf people. My ‘hole in one’ dream comes true at Bedrock
Body Mind Spirit – my face in the hole of a massage bed while hot stones soothe back muscles, the rugged, rocky coastline a treat for my eyes every time I glance up.
At Norfolk Island Golf Club, the views could put you off your game. Help yourself to that excuse. The South Pacific is a nasty water trap on one side, while the historic convict buildings of Kingston guard the other. In between, hundreds of Norfolk Island pines with fronds like baseball mitts catch every sliced ball. Maybe take a private lesson with Andrew Umlauft, the club professional, to learn how to avoid them.
But Norfolk saves her most spectacular vistas for after sunset. The island is classified a Gold Level Dark Sky Town and the stargazing is out of this world. We lie on top of Mt Pitt, scoffing the last of our holiday chocolate, and cheer as shooting stars stage a private fireworks show.