Milky Way Holiday Villas Lord Howe Island

... island and watched the terns. The terns are solid white with bright red beaks and red pintails. We took a photo with the Kim's Lookout sign for our friend, Kim, who just got a new kidney and pancreas, too. I hope she likes it and it makes her feel better! The hike back down was much easier and we all got ice cream in the village before Dad and I went off to play touch football. There is a pickup game every Wednesday at 4PM.

... Here are the fish that I saw, that I remember, because there were so many cool ones: · Parrot fish, which are brightly colored · Angel fish like Scar in Finding Nemo · Lots of brightly colored ones · Huge bright blue ones, called Bluefish I probably saw at least 50 different kinds of fish! And we saw Sea Turtles, which was amazing. Dad and I touched two of them when we were swimming this morning and we saw lots more on the boat. They are ...

... and people really care about, and want to protect the environment there. If only the rest of the world could be like that! I have never felt so relaxed as I did on this trip. I know I sound like a travel brochure, but it really is a special place. Lord Howe Island is one of the few places I have visited, that I feel a pull to return to. And I definitely will return one day - but in the meantime, I have plenty of other places I want to see!

... night too - talk about adding insult to injury! I had miscalculated the low tide and was expecting to be too late but as it happened we were there almost spot on low tide in perfect still conditions - although not so still that I could put my flippers on in the shallows with any degree of dignity! I had said something on the way down that maybe we shouldn't do it a second time as perhaps it would be disappointing ...

... in, and we were grateful to stay dry. The skipper then attached a sea urchin to the bottom of the boat so that the double header and all the other Wrasse would come and eat - it was quite a frenzy. He also had a sheet of perspex that he used to scrape the glass clear. Headed back to the boathouse once the snorkellers were done which was probably wise as the skinny lady was turning blue. There was warm water and ...

... long worming its way across a sandy bottom. A big blue-lipped clam with a wonderful wavy blue edge. A scorpion-fish (although it's not called that here) hanging on a coral-encrusted rock looking just like a fancy piece of stripy seaweed. A big starfish. Two little silver fish courting or building a nest or something that involved a lot of lying on their sides and looking lasciviously at one another ...

... Africa! - and thought I was seeing some sort of reflection when I saw what looked like a fairy palace hanging in the sky behind - or even perhaps in front of (like a rainbow) a distant headland. We worked out it was Balls Pyramid but as we knew that was 23 km from the far end of the island, hence about 28-30 from us, we couldn't believe we could really see it, especially on a cloudy day. So we decided it ...

... guts as it attracts sharks. M: We got back to the hut and sat in the sun to dry my wet shorts, and soon noticed a man getting out of a vehicle carrying two buckets. Clearly he was the official fish feeder. Soon a number of old barleys arrived, some to snorkel and some to watch the fish feeding. But suddenly it started dripping from a big grey cloud coming over the headland and before we knew it, we were all ...

... the afternoon we had a visit from Emma to say that she couldn't get some of our dinner bookings, so we made alternative arrangements. Dozed and read the afternoon away as the wind picked up and the cloud came down. During the early evening I went over to the Top Shop where I bought some steak and veggies for our supper. M, Later: and that's pretty much all that happened. Gray came back from his walk and we had lunch then ...

... and the airfield that runs diagonally right across the waist. We went once around before aligning to come in from the eastern side. M: Of course there's little to see on the trip and because the island's so small you are quite low (and starting to worry about that extra 3kg of luggage) before you even catch a glimpse of it. But spectacular isn't the word! The mountains are higher and steeper than I ...