NationalGeographicTravellerAustraliaandNewZealandWinter2018

A

s we walk among the exhibits at the

Lord Howe Island Museum, resident

naturalist Ian Hutton makes a bold

claim: “Lord Howe Island has all the stories of

the Galapagos, it’s just Charles Darwin didn’t

come here.” Darwin’s Galapagos discoveries

revolutionised the way we think about

evolution, after all, yet the similarities between

the two archipelagos are undeniable. Both were

born of volcanic activity and cast off across the

sea by shifting tectonic plates, which fostered

unique ecosystems both above and below the

sea. But while the Galapagos receives more

than 200,000 visitors each year, Lord Howe

is relatively deserted. Just 16,000 people are

welcomed to its shores annually, and this

relative anonymity has served the island well

• it has flourished.
  In fact, after a quick glance at the stats it
  becomes clear the island is a winner of ‘the

worlds’. It has the world’s southernmost reef,

home to more than 500 types of tropical and

temperate fish and 90 corals. It’s the breeding

ground of the endemic Lord Howe woodhen,

one of the world’s rarest birds. The world’s

rarest insect, the Lord Howe stick insect,

which was declared extinct in 1960, was

rediscovered in 2001 off the southeast coast

on Ball’s Pyramid, which is, incidentally, the

world’s tallest sea stack at 551 metres high.

About seven million years ago, explosive

volcanic activity in the seabed of the Tasman

Basin thrust a shield volcano 30 kilometres

wide more than a kilometre into the skies. The

remains – a mere fraction of the original at

11 kilometres long and two kilometres wide,

sculpted by the raging seas and winds – is the

landscape seen today. It was almost destroyed

by discovery – in 1788, one of the commanders

of a First Fleet ship sent a party ashore to claim

36 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER

SAMANTHA KODILA

Stunning views of Lord Howe

Island and surrounds from

the top of Mount Gower.

The last

paradise

Off the coast of New South
Wales, about 700 kilometres
northeast of Sydney, lies one
of the most unspoiled islands
on the planet.
By Samantha Kodila

LOCAL TREASURES

LORD HOWE ISLAND