Norfolk Island is an idyllic place to visit. 

Norfolk has been on my radar as a possible writer’s retreat for years. Because Colleen McCullough lived there and if it was good enough for Coll … 😁

Colleen passed away in 2015 after forty odd years of living in and contributing to the Norfolk community. It seemed to me that she was an intellectual, perhaps at time impatient, who could also be very generous. She had a deeply creative streak, was prepared to put in the work and was loved by millions.

Colleen’s home is open to the public once a week (her husband still resides there, so measured out doses makes sense). I visited as I had some curiosity about how the great one lived. My three favourite things would be the two portraits of Colleen and her courtyard garden.

Did I write while on Norfolk? Yes, I did. About 12,500 words (over nine days). It helped that I had a couple of deadlines. A manuscript I’m working on via a Write Your Novel in six months course, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month) and a 2,000 word short story due for a Writing Battle.

We stayed at Sunset Villas which is gorgeous and well appointed. On the more luxurious cost end of accommodation. It was a beautiful, restful spot with glorious sunset views and our own pool. We booked through Stayz (VRBO).

I think I’ll come back to Norfolk, maybe next November, but will look around at other accommodation too. I don’t need to be spoiled to write but now that I have been 🤣 can I do without the luxury next time? To be discovered.

What we did

Apart from relaxing – reading, writing and for my husband, swimming – we saw some sights.

The cost of our accommodation included a small hire car so we were able to zip around at our leisure. It also included a complimentary orientation tour with Baunti Tours.

The orientation tour was a great setup for a sense of the island and took about three hours.

With Baunti we also did a fish fry, visited Colleen’s home and did the Lantern Lit Ghost Tour (with Rachel. Yikes!). Baunti had so much more on offer but we didn’t need to fill our time with doing things.

We also did a high tea luncheon at Forrester Court (clifftop) and a Tea Shire Drive through the one hundred acre reserve.

Our favourite coffee shop was The Orb for food and service and atmosphere.

On our own, we visited Kingston, the old penal settlement and right next to Emily Beach. We miss being near the sea in Albury, so we walked or brought our books down to spend time there.

We also drove up to Mt Pitt and Captain Cook’s lookout (separate days) for stunning views. Mt Pitt at sunset is recommended.

Also, Fitzy’s baked potatoes, waffles and gelato are delicious on the Lavender Farm premises, right in town.

Make sure you bring a good jumper (even a beanie) for the evening – although temperature wise that stays pretty even day and night. And although the UV index can run high, temperatures rarely exceed about 23 to 25 degrees Celsius.

Put Norfolk Island on your bucket list ❤️

A little Norfolk Island History

An ‘I was there for five minutes, so now I know stuff’ guide to the history.

• Captain Cook found Norfolk Island on his second expedition around the world and named it after his benefactor’s wife. She never knew because she’d already died, but Captain Cook didn’t learn that until he got home.
• Norfolk Island’s penal colonies were established twice.
  • The first was abandoned after about 26 years (burned to the ground on purpose) for a move to Tasmania.
  • Then 11 years later they decided Norfolk was a good idea after all and they returned to establish the meanest penal colony they could. Bastards!
• Whaling was a thing for a while.
• Norfolk Pine trees made a lot of export money for the island for a long time. Not any more.
• Approximately one third of the population of Norfolk are descended from Fletcher Christian’s mutineers. That’s Fletch of the Mutiny on the Bounty fame.
  • He landed in Tahiti with his fellow mutineers but after a while they decided to move on (they were on the run). They took his men and their families, and some Tahitian natives to Pitcairn Island where they were predominantly nasty to each other, killing each other, due to their not being easy availability to food and supplies.
  • One of the mutineers taught his children to read with the only book around (you guessed it) the Bible and remarkably this taught those children how to be human and they helped retrain their fellow Pitcairn Islanders how to behave.
  • Things were pretty grim, so they appealed to the fatherland (England) to save them, which they did. They relocated them to Norfolk Island in 1856.
  • Those Pitcairn families (the children of the mutineers) were established in the homes left behind at the now defunct penal settlement – until about 1918 wen the government moved them out to elsewhere on the island because they wanted to preserve the history of the site.
  • Norfolk Island is an external territory of Australia (but when you travel there from Australia, it counts as international travel!).
• Other interesting facts:
  • The main town area (Grid town) has a 40km/hr limit and all entries have cattle grids because cattle run free and they need to stop them entering the town CBD.
  • Outside of the town (other side of the cattle grids) the speed limit is 50km/hr due to narrow, winding, potholed roads with cattle roaming around.
  • Cows can graze all over the island at a cost to their owners of $145 per head per annum.
  • There is a Norfolk Island language.
  • They don’t lock cars (they claim, no crime).
  • And you can’t use international roaming. You need to purchase a local SIM card, except when you’re at your accommodation, if they have decent WIFI.