But Papa quickly chimed in that he'd watched some NHK travel show on Tasmania and he was uninterested as it looked rather boring. I tried to pump Tasmania up talking up Tasmanian Devils and the beauty of the island along with Cradle Mountain which is supposed to be beautiful but Papa was adamant.
I next suggested Fiji, but Papa was uncomfortable with the political turmoil there. I let him know that they left the tourists alone as it was a big source of the country's income but again Papa held strong.
So, imagine my surprise when Papa said "Masa, I want to goto Lord Howe Island. It's listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site". I'd never heard of "Lord Howe Island" and had no clue where it was nor did I realise that it was in Australia and more specifically in the state of New South Wales (state I live in).
Evidently, Papa has seen yet another NHK travel show about Lord Howe Island and was impressed by the natural beauty and the birds endemic to Lord Howe Island (meaning they're found only on Lord Howe Island).
I had to Google-search Lord Howe Island to figure out more about this place my Dad wanted to visit. What I found out was:
* It's a two hour plane ride from Sydney - heading East into the ocean.
* There are very few cars, most people ride bikes.
* There's a limit to how many visitors can travel to LHI at any one time (there's a max number of people who can live there as well)
* There's no mobile phone coverage on LHI. When we arrived I asked and was told that the LHI resident's don't want mobile phone coverage as they enjoy the freedom of not being reachable by mobile anytime, anywhere.
Now that I've been there, what I'd add about LHI is:
* It's like that 1980s TV show "Fantasy Island" in it's beauty and remoteness.
* There's an amazing "small town village" feel to LHI in that everyone knows everyone and there's incredible trust that you won't steal from your neighbor. This is seen in the fact that there were absolutely no locks or keys in our hotel - we stayed at the Pinetrees Resort. This made my Dad feel uncomfortable at first that there was no lock (and thus no need for keys) on any of the doors to our room (a one bedroom suite). Also, when we rented our bikes we'd ride around the island and just leave them unlocked in front of the stores (there were like 5 stores in total on the island) or along the path.
* It's incredibly friendly on LHI. You waved hello to everyone that passed you by (even when you're riding on your bike, you give a friendly wave to people cycling or driving by).
* LHI is like the place that time forgot. So many beautiful trees, plant life that's unpolluted and thus thriving.
Here's us arriving at Lord Howe Island's airport (Nov. 14-18, 2010).
After my first day of scuba diving, I rejoined Mom and Papa and we went to the beach in the lagoon, checked out the small town and rented our bicycles.
Just beyond our cabin at Pinetrees is a boat shed where we enjoyed watching sunrises and sunsets.
Since we rented bicycles and there was no phone or TV in our cabin, we typically went to sleep early and woke up early. Papa and I got into the habit of waking up early before breakfast and going bicycling around the island. On one such morning we went to Blinky's Beach.
After Blinky's Beach we cycled a bit further to the end of the airport runway where we saw a number of cows. Here's a FlipVideo that recognises that Papa is Year of the Cow.
One afternoon Papa and I rode our bicycles to the North end of the island and the ocean, green pastures with cows, sunset, and mountains inspired us to compose Haikus.
Two of the most remarkable trees found on Lord Howe Island are the native Kentia Palm Tree which LHI exports to Europe and Australia and the Banyan Tree with its many, many roots.
One afternoon Papa and I rode to Ned's Beach and saw a lady feeding the fish there. So the next afternoon we brought the left over bread from our airplane lunch and fed the fish. As you'll see in this FlipVideo it was TOTALLY UNREAL how many fish swam around our ankles to eat the bread we were tossing into the water.
On another morning, Papa and I rode to the South end of the island and on the golf course there we found more Banyan trees with multiple roots and the Kentia palms. Here's Papa having fun with these native trees.
I've talked a lot about the trees, but there were also many birds that are only found on Lord Howe Island. The woodhen was many years ago almost extinct (only 30 remained at one point) but thanks to a regeneration program on LHI, they were brought back and now there's a population of over 300. These woodhen don't have any predators on the island (pigs and cats and other rodents aren't allowed on the island which helps) and thus are very friendly and bold and so frequently approach people as they're relatively unafraid of losing their lives. So, I couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time finding a woodhen.
One morning, Papa and I cycled around the island trying to find a woodhen. At one point we gave up and Papa insisted that we use these yellow signs as a substitute. As an aside, just before this FlipVideo was taken, Papa was slowing his bike as he reached me (I'd already stopped and gotten off my bike) and for some reason he didn't judge the distance correctly and ran into me and fell off his bike. So in the Flip you'll here commentary that I tried to hurt him when the reality is that Papa drove his bike into me!
And then wouldn't you know it, when we head back to Pinetrees for breakfast we find a woodhen right behind the lodge.
On our last morning as Papa and I were walking around Pinetrees Resort we found this gargantuan banyan tree that was horizontal, vertical and so huge that it's many "tree trunks" actually crossed the street! My brother - who loves interesting trees - would have been amazed at this tree!
On our last afternoon on Lord Howe Island, Pinetrees Resort arranged for us to have a BBQ at Cubby's Corner. And we could not have asked for a more perfect afternoon. We had this lovely BBQ spot all to ourselves, an amazing view, gorgeous weather and we even had friendly woodhens and a dog come by and play with us!
And Mom made a friend - this woodhen she named "Pecky" because he'd break up the bread she fed him into tiny pieces before eating them with a typewriter-like peck, peck head motion. You'll see it has colored bands on its legs - that's what the rangers use to keep track of and to count the woodhen population.
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