NationalGeographicTravellerAustraliaandNewZealandWinter2018

(Sean Pound) #1

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

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