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08/16/24 - On To Lord Howe Island

We flew from Sydney to Lord Howe Island. It was a two hour flight on a turboprop Dash 8. It had been years since our last turboprop flight and with the extensive warnings on the Qantas web site about flying to Lord Howe Island, we weren't sure of what to expect. We had repacked our bags and checked one in Sydney to meet the limited baggage weight requirement, and we weren't surprised when our gate at the airport led out onto the tarmac where we boarded a bus that took us to our plane. The flight itself wasn't bad. It wasn't full. Since the flight is near the upper range limit of the aircraft, they had limited the load. This explained our limited baggage allowance as well as why a number of the rows were kept empty.

Most of the flight was over water since Lord Howe Island is north and east of Sydney. We approached the island at low altitude. There were steep hills to the north and south. The lone runway ran east to west across the flat mid-section of the island. There isn't all that much flat ground on Lord Howe Island, and the short runway also limited our plane's landing weight.

The airport at Lord Howe Island had a small terminal building where we were reunited with our bags and boarded a golf cart to get to our hotel. The island speed limit is 25 kph. This isn't a big problem since the island is pretty small, and golf carts provide excellent transportation.

Once we settled in to our room, we headed out from our room and explored south along the coast. We followed the limited low lands that skirted the steep hills. There were birds and beaches and a cow or two. It was an interesting walk to say the least.


Approaching Lord Howe Island


Good snorkeling perhaps?

The steep hills of the south





Hiking south



Looking north











That kingfisher

Keywords: australia