A Treasure in the Middle of the Pacific!

After over 8 months of border lock downs, our six month Western Australia van trip put on hold, and 4 cruises cancelled, we saw on the TV news that Queenslanders could fly to Norfolk Island, a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific, without having to go into hotel isolation when we got back, so we looked into it. We had already saved money for our cruise holidays and thought we would now use it.

Norfolk is a tiny island in the South Pacific, approximately 1450km (900 miles) east of Brisbane; 800km (500 miles) south-east of Noumea, New Caledonia; 1125km (700 miles) north-west of Auckland, New Zealand. It is an Australian territory and full of history. On arriving at the International Airport, it was empty. Masks are recommended for departures, and mandatory for arrivals. On board the plane masks are recommended, but not mandatory. We wore masks. I would feel safer on a cruise ship than on a crowded plane, and it was a full flight both ways, with such close contact for over two hours. The flight to Norfolk Island was not as worrying as the flight back, as there were tourists from Sydney on Norfolk. My opinion only - it is safer on a cruise ship!

We needed to get an entry pass into Norfolk Island and a resident pass to get back into Queensland. Both easy to do online. I researched airfares, accommodation, and things to do. Norfolk Island was somewhere Peter and I had always wanted to go but it was always too expensive so never had... until now. We spoke with a travel agent about 6 nights accommodation, airfares, car hire, and a couple of specific tours. The agent came back with a total of $5,217 for airfares, accommodation and tours (only one of the included tours was what we had asked for) for three of us. So we decided to book it all ourselves. We ended up staying 12 nights at better accommodation, with all the tours we wanted. Including ALL our food, drinks, restaurants, cafes, souvenirs, car hire, petrol, duty free - absolutely every cent we spent - including taxi fare home from the airport, the total came to $5,063. BARGAIN! $154 cheaper for twice the number of nights and included every single cent we spent. It just reaffirmed my opinion that travel agents are not always giving us a good deal.

Anyway, the next few blogs will be all about our accommodation, the tours, and the great time we had on Norfolk Island. We only wish we had stayed a little longer. Next time! Some cruise ships from Sydney do stop here if the weather permits, but most tourists come in by plane. With COVID, flights from Brisbane started back in August and Sydney flights started in October. New Zealand had yet to approve flights to Norfolk. With that said, even in 'normal' times the number of tourists is limited to the number of flights.