Where to Go and What to Do

during the DAY

Exploring: By Car and Foot

There are lots of wonderful walks on Norfolk Island but unless you're a "Shank's Pony" fanatic you'll need a car to get to the best of them. The good news is that car hire here is so reasonable you'll scarcely believe it. (See "Car Hire" in "The ABC of Handy Facts".)

Emily Bay

Your "must-do" Scenic Walk

The smart way to enjoy this mind-expanding experience is to team up with another couple. You drive together to Mount Pitt where one couple sets off on the walk while the other two take a drive culminating where the walk ends - at Captain Cook's Monument.

Put a picnic hamper in the car and you'll be set to enjoy a leisurely meal in a magic setting when you meet up. The next day you can simply reverse roles.

(If you can't organise things this way, you can get a cab to drop you at the peak and pick you up at the other end.)

About half way up to the summit, keep your eyes peeled for a small sign reading "Hollow Pine". 50 metres in from the road you'll find it - a venerable giant that began life in the time of Oliver Cromwell. A similar hollow pine, says the legend, was the home for seven years of an escaped convict named Barney Duffy.

Barney was finally caught, it is said, by three troopers - Turner, Heffernan and Warnham. The giant, long-haired convict screamed a curse at them: 'Take me ...ye red-coated, lily-livered lice! Aye! - but hear my curse on ye: So surely as ye do this, before me corpse has hung a week on King's Town gallows, ye'll meet a violent death!' Two days after the hanging, as his capturers were fishing off Headstone point, a freak wave swept all three to their deaths.

Now drive to the summit where a wonderful pageant is laid out beneath you. When you turn your eyes to the sea, it really hits you ...what a microscopic dot is this Norfolk Island. You are standing on the only land mass of any size in two million square kilometres of ocean.

THE WALK to Captain Cook's Monument

At the signpost just below the summit, take the steps down to the Summit Track and begin your leisurely 1¾ hours walk. Pause at the seat about 200 metres in to admire the sweeping views of the north-west coast. Ten minutes further on, a steep but short ascent takes you up to the peak of Mt. Bates (just 2 metres higher than Mt. Pitt) where you are rewarded with knockout views. Two pits, one containing relics of a radar installation, recall World War II .

Simply follow the "Captain Cook's" signs as you wind through the forest and down to the coast. The melodious trilling you'll hear will be the Golden Whistler and if you're lucky you'll catch the "kek-kek-kek-kek-kek" of the endangered Norfolk Island Green Parrot. As you follow the cliff-top, you will enjoy splendid views of Cathedral Rock, Bird Rock, Moo-oo Stone and Green Pool Stone. Arrived at the monument, you'll gaze down at the spot where Captain Cook landed two centuries ago. 100 metres up, on a lovely, tree-shaded cliff-top, picnic tables and barbecues await you

DURING THE TIME it takes for couple No. 1 to do their walk, the other couple can take a roundabout drive to Captain Cook's that is full of interest. Descend Mount Pitt, take Grassy Road down to Taylor's Road and follow it through Burnt Pine and down to Arthur's Vale. The Devil's Elbow at the base takes you west up Country Road to where you turn left into Rocky Point Road.

You'll immediately see a convict ruin sheltered by a magnificent banyan and, opposite it, Branka House restaurant. Under the floor of this gracious building, once the home of a grandson of Fletcher Christian, have recently been discovered a number of cells, relics of the time when over 600 prisoners were housed in this agricultural area. A few yards further down, on the right, are The Arches, what remains of Captain McConachie's convict barracks.

Continue along to Bumboras Road and follow it to the Reserve, a favourite picnic spot. Cross the plank bridge over the rush-choked creek and among pines on your left

note one of only two stands of Euphorbia Norfolkiana in the world. Over the rise you'll discover Cresswell Bay, a place of enchanting rock pools and sometimes wild surf. Return to Rocky Point Road, follow it to its end and descend to Point Ross. Be sure to walk up to its summit for wonderful seascapes. You are on the southernmost point of the island. 5 kms out is Phillip Island - beyond that, empty ocean stretches for a mind-bending 5,000 kms to the Antarctic

When you come down, check your watch. You should allow about 45 minutes from when you leave here to complete your trip to Captain Cook's. If you have time, and if you're super-fit, scramble down to Crystal Pool (being careful to avoid the shearwaters' nesting burrows) and explore this microcosm of the sea's treasures. Be particularly careful if it is high tide.

Backtrack to Country Road and head west until you come to a magnificent stand of Moreton Bay Figs. Read their history on the fence of the Homestead Restaurant and note that the reserve opposite, called One Hundred Acres, is a great place for a ramble on another day. At the corner of Douglas Drive awaits St. Barnabas, probably the most beautiful small church in the Pacific. Make sure you visit it then continue on via Bullock's Hut Road and Duncombe Bay Road to Captain Cook's mon-ument for your picnic. On your return journey, check out two splendid future picnic spots - at Anson Bay and Puppies Point If you're there near sunset, gaze at the orb of the setting sun at the instant it disappears below the horizon. If you're lucky, you'll have an eerie experience - an atmospheric illusion known as the 'Green Flash'.

Duncombe Bay

Anson Bay

Your "must-do" Historic Ramble

Leave Burnt Pine via Ferny Lane (sometimes called Peter's Highway) and follow it around the airport until you come to Country Road. Turn left, follow it for a hundred metres and go straight ahead down Beefsteak Road. A stone's throw along on your right, you'll see Longridge House, well worth a visit, either for a meal or devonshire tea, or to re-live life as it was in bygone Norfolk days. Return to Country Road, turn right and in about a minute you'll come to Watermill Dam on your right. Pop in and say

hello to the ducks (and the feral chooks) then continue on down Jemima Robinson Avenue, lined with exactly 100 pines, commemorating the 100 years lived by that lady. When you come to the massive walls of the Commissariat Store, turn right. We'll be returning to this corner but, for now, follow Pier Street to the jetty and let your mind drift back to 1856 when 194 Pitcairners set eyes on their new home.

You're now in the heart of old Kingston Town. Be prepared to spend at least half a day in the vicinity. (You'll need more if you're planning to take in the four engrossing museums as well on the same day. You can get lunch at the Royal Engineers' Office near the jetty).

Soon you will imagine you hear the voices of the convict miners as they labour to build these beautifully-proportioned buildings from limestone they have quarried from Point Hunter or Nepean Island. But Norfolk weaves such a serene spell that you will find yourself soaking up its grim past without a jolting sense of shock, not quite believing that such a Paradise could ever have been such a Hell.

As you stroll around Kingston, you will be part of a 19th century village, scarcely changed from the days when the forced blacksmiths, masons, bakers, shingle-splitters, cloth and cord makers, tailors and bullockies plied their trades.

The walls of the infamous pentagonal prison and its equally repugnant hospital still stand, as do those of the ghastly Crankmill (now roof-less), under whose floor, it is rumoured, are buried hundreds of artifacts awaiting disinterment. The Pier Store and Royal Engineers Office, now museums, beckon. Close by can still be seen one of the main sawpits where the `top dog' would lift the saw upwards and the `underdog' would pull it down.

Where the prison walls end at Slaughter Bay, you'll see the plaque commemorating the tragic end of the flagship of the First Fleet and, nearby, the Sirius Museum. Take in the Salt Mill and continue around Emily Bay out to the tip of Point Hunter (named after the captain of the Sirius) and gaze back on one of the prettiest bays on this planet.

Geese 'guarding' the Military Barracks

Drive back to the Commissariat's Store corner and walk around it and the Old and New Military Barracks whose massive walls and corner towers were built to withstand any convict uprising. There is the whole of Quality Row to explore, including the lovingly refurbished No. 10.

The Golf Course from Quality Row

In the supremely beautiful beach-side cemetery, you will have to shake yourself to realise that these tombstones whose engraved words invoke the ghosts of penal days are not part of some mirage. Here is the headstone of Thomas Salsbry Wright who died in manacles at the age of 105 - could this really be true? It is. He was sentenced, at the age of 99, for forgery, despite his claim that he "had as much right as any man to run a bank".

Just past the cemetery, you will come to Bloody Bridge. Be sure to get out of your car and contemplate the legend:

This bridge was built by convict labour in the time of Major Anderson, the merciless, one-eyed Scot they called `Potato Joe', for his act of substituting potatoes for bread in the convict's rations. It's a very handsome little bridge - the engineers who designed it had an eye for timeless grace, a refinement doubtless lost on the poor devils who built it. Their every step was impeded by irons, mostly weighing fifteen pounds and some as much as twenty two pounds. Dysentery constantly gnawed at their vitals. Already half-crazed by their suffering, they were goaded ceaselessly by their overseer in the hope of inducing a glance of protest. This offense, called `dumb insolence', earned immediate retribution - the cat o' nine tails.

Bloody Bridge

Suddenly, one of them exploded and drove a pick through the brain of his tormentor. Knowing that every one of them would be punished horribly if the bleeding corpse were to be discovered, the gang walled it up in the bridge. When the relieving overseer turned up at midday, he asked where his predecessor was. "Oh!", was the reply, "he went for a swim down there in the bay. We think he must have drowned".

Unfortunately for them, through the still-wet mortar between the bluestones, something began to ooze ....... it was the blood of the entombed overseer!

Continue on up Driver Christian Road to Collins Head Road which will take you back to Burnt Pine.

A Drive of Scenic Delights

(About 2 hrs or an extra hour if you take the walk.) Leave Burnt Pine via Queen Elizabeth Ave. and take Stockyard Road. to Marsh's Road which winds down to Ball Bay, the caldera of an ancient volcano. Return to the junction and take Martin's Road to Buck's Point which overlooks serene Ball Bay from the other side and offers a dramatic view of Phillip Island. Backtrack to Stockyard Road, and follow Two Chimney's Road to its end. Walk down the left side of "The Nest" out to the point for impressive seascapes bord-ered by petrified rivers of volcanic rock. Backtrack to the Middlegate Junction and head north up Cascade Road noting the typical Island home on your right circled by graceful, ancient palms. At a bend in the road, just before it descends to the sea, take the dirt track straight ahead up the grassy bank and you'll discover a place that Norfolkers call Fred’ick’s Ledge. As you peer over the cliff edge, you’ll get quite a startling view of the Cascade jetty. Now travel down to the jetty area, site of the old whaling station., and still one of our two unloading spots. Come back to Prince Philip Drive and, 50 metres up it, turn right across the small bridge and wind down to Cockpit where the settlement of Phillipburgh once thrived. Pass the dam, cross the creek and walk around a natural ampitheatre to view the first cascade, then down to the second, falling sheer to the sea. If you note how high are the banks of the watercourse, you can visualise why these waterfalls were once des-cribed by Commandant King as "tremendous". Now follow majestic valleys along Prince Philip Drive and Red Road to the National Park. From here you can take a walk (just over an hour return) to Bird Rock, swarming with petrels, whalebirds and noddies. To return to Burnt Pine, take J.E.. and New Cascade roads.

• By Horse

Even if you’ve never mounted a horse in your life, think about doing it here. On the City Slicker Trail Ride you take a gentle stroll off the beaten track, enjoying sweep-ing coastal views, then take a break for morning or afternoon tea before meandering home through scenic bush. (If you have a child too young to ride, Kay will ‘double-dink’ it on her horse.) Even easier is the "Devonshire Tea Ride", which lets the horses do the walking for you, enabling you to enjoy - in just 30-minutes - scenic delights you would have missed if you had been obliged to walk and rewards you with delicious scones, jam and cream. For both exper-ienced and non-expert riders, there’s the "Billy Tea Special" which takes you into the heart of magnificent forest on a memorable 2½hour ride. To book, phone Silky Oaks Stables.

By Horse Carriage

Join "Culla" and his lovable Clydesdales: Rufus, Frodo, Glow and Geordie, on a 2 hour "Steele’s Point Carousel Tour" into privately owned land where cars can’t go. One or several carriages can cater for up to 18 trippers.

By Bus Shuttle or Taxi

Call 80371 for a Taxi or People Mover that will take up to 8 people anywhere on the island at a very reasonable cost.

By 4WD

Several island residents run tours into the rain forest and back country and onto secluded clifftops offering great photo opportunities.

By Air

Scenic Flights cover Norfolk Island and also take you over the spectacularly coloured Phillip Island

By Boat

A Round-Island Trip will give you a whole new perspective on this special island. There are also Photographic Cruises to the most spectacular seascapes of Norfolk and Phillip Islands. See also Sporting Activities under "Fishing"

• By Bike

To hire bikes or mountain bikes, check with Visitors Bureau. 

It would be hard to imagine a safer place to enjoy the wonder world beneath the sea surface than in Norfolk’s reef-protected lagoons. Go down the steps opposite the east end, of the prison compound, slip on a mask and snorkel and enter the water where the rocks are. Follow the reef out and, in seconds, you’ll be amongst tropical fish and magical coral gardens. If you didn’t bring snorkeling gear, you can hire it inexpensively. See Shopping Guide.

Half Day General: Many people like to do one of these early in their visit for orientation and a feel of Norfolk lifestyle and history.

Gardening: Island gardens, a nursery, organic fruit-growing and grafting, kentia palm plantation.

History: There are tours of  the Kingston Ruins, the unique Cemetery, Quality Row, etc. or Tagalong tours covering several of our fascinating museums. Contact the Museum headquarters at 23088 or the Visitors Bureau at 22147..

A Walk in the Wild: A stunning, leisurely rainforest stroll offering fascinating glimpses into Norfolk’s history and ecology. And it’s free! Just register at the Mini-Golf Shop.

Bounty Folk Museum and Old Norfolk Town

Watching the Lighterage men at work

There’s normally a ship in twice a month and that’s your chance to watch the unloading as it has been done here for over a century, using lighters very similar to whaling boats.