Norfolk Island Travel Guide

Norfolk Island OVERVIEW

When was the last time you raised your finger at the police and they waved back at you grinning from ear to ear? Never? Then come to Norfolk Island and learn all about the famous 'Norfolk Wave', which is anything from a regular wag through to a raised index finger from the steering wheel that the drivers here use to greet each other without fail. What underlies this extraordinary politeness is the fact that the islanders are all descendants of the Bounty Mutineers, which makes them a particularly congenial bunch, and which is also why Norfolk's telephone directory makes a funny read. So recurrent are the surnames here that the book uses nicknames to identify families.

When Captain James Cook first saw it, he quite deservedly called it 'a Paradise', though for convicts enslaved here between 1788-1814 and 1825-1855 it must have felt more like Hell. Locked in the Australia - New Zealand - New Caledonia triangle, this tiny speck of land floating in the Pacific depths used to be a penal colony for New South Wales, but much as its reformatory past has only left a couple of abandoned walls, the paradisaical beauty has remained intact.

Tourism has been on the increase over the years, but somewhere on the way young travelers were led to believe that NI is a comfy depot for bingo-hooked grannies and expat grandpas with goodly retirement allowances. Nothing further from the truth; or at least not quite so. Sure there's lawn bowls, snooker, darts and fishing, but the island's location has blessed it with a vast array of outdoor pursuits appealing to all manner of interests and various levels of exertion. There may be no drum'n'bass scene, but the scuba diving and snorkeling are top-flight, to say nothing of golfing, windsurfing, and equestrian activities. Scenic walks and ravishing beaches are to your heart's content (just check Emily Bay or Captain Cook Lookout), and duty-free shopping means you can get a whole range of high end goods for a song. To put it mildly, there's plenty to do if you are fit, adventurous, and well off, but stay away if the only organizing principle of you vacation is nightclubs' opening hours.