Pinetrees Lord Howe Island

... they were not dangerous but they still look super scary. Dad and I found a butterfly cod - very dangerous - just sitting on the bottom. And we saw an eel, which was black and white and keep opening his mouth and hissing at us (I think!). We got to watch the movie "Splash" last night and being under the water here feels like being in the movie. I could have snorkeled all day and all night! Today we did a big hike up to Kim ...

... airforce plane when we landed. After lunch, we went out on a glass-bottom boat with Antony, whose family has lived here for five generations. Only about 300 people live on the island and only 400 people are allowed on at any one time. There is a tiny town (about four shops and a post office, plus a small school). After you turn 12, you have to go away to boarding school in Australia, at least a two hour flight away. That is what Antony did ...

... and a dear little unassuming bird but I'm glad I hadn't swum the Sahara or something to see it! It pottered about and stuck its beak into things as laid down in the Field Guide "Rules for Woodhens" but that was that. Anyway, at least that's one Lord Howe Island creature I can cross off my life list. G: As we were sitting we heard this strange bird cry that ended with a hiccup like the Capercailey out of ...

Sunday 8 July 2007 G: Up early so that we would be ready for the glass bottom boat. I had been laying awake listening to Mandi's snoring - very loud. M: We had to at least be aware of the time when we woke up because we were due on the glass-bottomed boat at 9am which meant leaving Ebbtide by 8:45. We sauntered through the village expecting to be the first people there anyway, but weren't. The atmosphere was very ...

Saturday 7 July 2007 G: Mandi coughed a lot during the night but apparently slept well. She had not taken a cold muti so woke a lot easier than normal. We had decided to go to snorkel, so borrowed wet suits from Ebb Tide, which we tried on in the privacy of our own room, then trudged down to Ned's beach with all our stuff. M: Didn't sleep as soundly because I hadn't taken anti-snot muti but woke ...

... branches. By the time we came out the other side into sporadic sunshine, she seemed better. We could see the hazy shape of Balls Pyramid above the next headland. It must be huge to be visible at 23km, and we later read that it is about 500m tall. M: Anyway, it wore off and I started feeling better and before long we were at The Clear Place which is literally just a small mowed area - smaller than ...

... than the scenes at Abraham's Pool at Sanli Urfa. Mandi was quite concerned about getting her toes bitten, as the fish came right into the shallows, so she stepped back. It was quite amazing to watch. M: We walked both ways along the beach, and at one end, where there were rocks and rock pools, we saw in amongst the fairly ubiquitous little silver fish, two absolutely magnificent parrotfish - about 30-35 cm but ...

... then up the stiff 121m climb to the top of Transit Hill. It was a stiff 500m and took 10 minutes. Joined a New Zealand couple on the lookout, and what a spectacular lookout it was, with panoramic views all around the island. After 20 minutes enjoying the view I carried on in the same direction for another 700m back down to Lagoon road. This section appeared to be both steeper and longer than the approach, so I don't know. I ...

... that I haven't seen before whereby the child is actually belted onto the Mom's lap) and scrambling all over Gray, which he took with good grace. He even read to the child from his own book and from the Qantas magazine. The mum didn't seem to have anything at all to amuse the child and only a ****** gossip magazine for herself. G: We were eventually called to walk out to the Dash. We were in the 9th row ...