Norfolk Island - 2

DINING

We cooked most meals in our suite....the local produce was too tempting (we just can't resist great hot peppers) but we did dine out twice.  The night we arrived was the fish fry at a nearby restaurant.  Excellent fish and chips, salad of local veggies, warm service and good value.

Then a lunch at Branka House - a charming colonial home with wraparound verandas and surprisingly good food.  A lamb rump salad with roasted peppers, feta, mustard and olive dressing; then a novelty in the middle of the Tasman Sea - seafood tortilla - prawns, scallops, local fish all wrapped in an island tortilla with tomato relish and sour cream.  Liz ordered a side of avocado, dill, horseradish cream salsa which was exceptional.  We're becoming addicted to avocados moments from the tree.  This was the calibre of cuisine we expected in the New Zealand wine country (more to come on that shortly) - local ingredients, creatively combined and skillfully prepared....photos follow:

Branka House has lovely gardens with some fun topiary, that Liz demonstrates below:

WATER AND POWER

While there is regular rain, the soil is porous and ground water runs off into the sea.  No new wells are allowed and locals subsist on rain water collected off their roofs.  Most homes have tanks the one below - where our water was stored.....it was very good

Because the island power comes from diesel generators, there are some interesting prohibitions:

- no air conditioners (except the hospital and computer rooms)
- no ovens.....locals BBQ really well
- no clothes driers
- no back lit signs  - no loss there

Incandescent bulbs are rare and you quickly get into the habit of conserving power....it's probably a lifestyle habit we all will need to adopt.

GETTING STUFF FROM AWAY

There is an airport - flights on Wednesday and Saturday; all else arrives by sea....only there is no harbour - the coast is a series of cliffs plunging into the sea with only a few small beaches.  Everything from toilet paper to a bus is offloaded onto small boats and brought ashore to one of two docks (see below).  For a bus they lash 3 boats together.  Since the sea is generally rough a cargo ship can stand off for many days waiting to deliver.

There are some charming stories about small boat deliveries.  One, possibly apocryphal, is that when the village ass ordered an expensive car - no surprise - it "accidentally" fell into the ocean.

More verifiable is that when a local bar owner ordered a shipment of Video Lottery Terminals, they "accidentally" fell into the ocean.  He was subtley advised that future orders of VLTs would also continue to fall into the ocean.  There are no VLTs on Norfolk Island

Here's a picture of the dock - note the crane works by hooking your truck up to the end of the cable.  They do have a large mobile crane for big lifts

There are feral chickens everywhere....

Comments

[wayne]

Thanx for the fix. You had hooked us on blog and then took the drug away for so long. So not fair, but I'm feeling better today, scrolling, scrolling...

Great pix and great writing, Rich.

You are the only people I know who take pictures of meat. A long overlooked talent.