Day 2 in Paradise

Very quiet location and a good night’s sleep, so am quite refreshed and ready to gird my loins to deal with my gaggle for day number 2. The hotel is in a very pretty spot, although it is likely that most of Norfolk Island is pretty.  Rolling hills with huge Norfolk pines everywhere and very lush and green. Fair bit of cloud cover this morning but temperate weather. The locals are very, very friendly and always ready for a chat.  Breakfast in the hotel is between 7-9 and when I get there at 8 nearly all my lot are present and planning their day.  We have the morning free so the majority are going to wander up the main street (probably only 1 main street so no opportunity for confusion) and start their duty free shopping.  I put MP on the free shuttle at 9 a.m. and find that 6 others want a lift too so wave them off to the Farmers market at the other end of main street.  I’ll have to find out what distances we are talking about, but it is probably a leisurely 15 minute walk. I then wander up the street with a few of the other girls and we drift in and out of shops.  I take a few of them into the Pinetree Tours office so that they can book some more trips that they individually want to do. I’ve got a few tours I would like to do, but want to make sure that everyone else has worked out what they are doing in their free time, so that I know everyone is sorted and then I’ll book my tours.  Eventually we get to the Farmers market which consists of 3 vans and trailers with fresh seafood, vegies and a couple of different fruits!!! So then a wander back towards the hotel, criss-crossing the street as something else takes our fancy.  Lo and behold I found a bottle shop near the Tourist Info Centre and feel obliged to assist the nation’s (are they a nation???) economy with my first major purchases. One of the ladies is a shopaholic but wants the lady she is sharing a room with, to go into every shop with her.  I step in and let the roomie off the hook for her to do her own thing and I wander in and out of shops, even though our shopaholic doesn’t actually buy anything!!!.  She then kindly offers to buy me a cuppa and I take her up on it.  We find a little cafe in the supermarket area and also happen upon a couple of the other ladies who have the same idea. While we are sitting there, I see Pauline Hanson come through the shopping centre.  She clearly didn’t notice me or I’m sure she would have approached me and wanted to sit with me, or at least get my autograph.

I then wander off on my own as my shopaholic has said she is happy to wander on her own too.  I find a lovely gift shop where I am able to start my shopping.  The prices are certainly duty free, but there are no bargain basement prices that I can see.  Leather shoes on special are still at least $100 as are the handbags so unless you are definitely into brands, then I’m not sure that NI really is the shopping mecca I was led to believe. Ladies clothing is often very nice, but too pricey for my taste.  T shirts (good quality with patterns and bling) are around $50 and upwards so no bargains there. My money isn’t burning a hole in my pocket so no rush to spend up just yet. I get back to the hotel about midday and have a bun I bought at the bakery for my lunch.  There are a number of nice cafe/restaurants dotted along the main road (which I now know as Taylors Rd).  There are no fast food outlets of any description.

We all meet in the lobby at 1 p.m. to do our half day Orientation coach tour.  Our driver, Max, is delightful.  He is originally a NSW fella but married a NI lass and he has been in NI for over 40 years now.  He’s no spring chicken but he clearly knows the island’s history very well and is an excellent tour guide, with a good dose of comedian thrown in for good measure.  We are driven all over the island with lots of opportunity for photos.  The island is about 5 x 8 km.  The roads are pretty rough and ready.  NI locals do not pay income tax and the average hourly rate is between $14-22.  They also do not pay council rates, there is no rubbish collection, nor mail delivery.  Electricity is generally driven by diesel although some places have solar.  Half the island still relies on septic tanks and the water supply is either rain water or bores. Their (I think he said) 9 person Legislature are elected for 3 years. An Administrator is appointed by the Australian govt. There are no pensions of any kind whether it be age, single parent or the dole. To be deemed a permanent resident you either have to have been born here or lived here for at least 12 months plus you are income tested as well as a police clearance. The AFP provide the policing presence and members are sent here for 2 years with an option for an extra year. All in all this tour was really good, providing us with an excellent sense of the size of the place and how the locals get by, along with some magnificent scenery.  Here’s another tid bit, there are no native animals to NI, but 3 native birds.  There are no snakes, foxes or possums on NI, and.... wait for it.... no seagulls!!!  Our final stop of the tour was to Mt Pitt which provided a 360 degree panorama of the whole island.  The weather was perfect –about 24 degrees and only a few clouds so hopefully my photos will do the scenery justice.

Back to the hotel with just enough time for JL and I to share a couple of cheeky chardys on our verandah and then we all wandered across to the nice restaurant next door (Pa Yea’s).  I had the garlic prawn hot pot which was very yummy.  Then we were back to our hotel in time for our 7.45 p.m. pick up to take us on the Sound and Light show.  This consisted of an audio tape re-telling of the bleak days on NI for the ex UK prisoners who were sentenced to NI and had to survive the extreme hardship that was the penal colony of the 1850s.  Locals dressed as actors at various buildings in Kingston. As we got to certain parts of the audio tape our coach would stop at different sites, put the search light onto the building and the actors would come out and act out the scene.  We stayed on the coach the whole time.  It was actually quite well done – they’ve been doing it for almost 30 years and what I found particularly interesting was that many of the youth in Ni have grown up playing different parts of the production.  Good for them, I reckon. Then it was back to the hotel about 9 p.m. and time for me to pen these lines to you.

It has been a lovely day and apart from being frustrated with Big W that she always takes so long to get on and off the coach... and she does not have a volume control, speaking every ditzy thought that comes into her head, I think we’ve all managed to have a thoroughly enjoyable day without drama.  Here’s hoping there is more of the same for tomorrow.