Island Life

Lord Howe Island is not for everyone, which is just how the locals like it, discovers Joanna Hunkin.

- Joanna Hunkin

I am waiting for a body to turn up. Not really, but as I ramble through a seaside paddock, thick mist shrouding the towering rock of Mt Gower ahead of me, I can’t shake the feeling I could be in an Agatha Christie novel.

The air is thick with humidity as granite clouds threaten to burst overhead. To my right, white-capped waves crash into the reef, while on my left, enormous black cows with menacing horns eye me suspiciously. As the rain arrives, I retreat back to my suite at Capella Lodge, where I continue to stare into the great grey abyss, hypnotised.

Yesterday, this same view was a vibrant green vista, reaching across a canopy of kentia palms to the twin peaks of Mt Gower and Mt Lidgbird. It looked more like Hawaii than New South Wales. Today, it’s like being in Tasmania.

Later, the locals will tell me it’s good that I got to see the island like this. It’s not all tropical paradise, they are keen to stress. Their island is more interesting than that, more complex. If you want an easy, breezy beachside escape, you can go to Queensland, thank you very much.

Ironically, the next day dawns brilliant blue, the cloudless sky outshone only by the turquoise waters surrounding the island. We head out on a turtle tour with Anthony Riddle, a sixth-generation islander and jack of all trades. In addition to running snorkel and turtle tours with Marine Adventures, he’s the co-founder of the Lord Howe Island Distilling Company, which uses wild bush lemons and native hibiscus to make Lord Howe Island Gin. He’s also the man in charge of keeping the green looking tip-top at the local golf club.