DAY 11 - NORFOLK ISLAND

Day 11 – Tuesday 14^th JANUARY 2020.

It was a little sad waking up this morning knowing that this was the last day on the island.  Like our last visit we have really enjoyed our time here.  We have done lots of exploring but at the same time we have had plenty of time to rest and relax.   We have also had a lovely time with our good friends Ian and Kathy.  We are so blessed to have such good friends like this that we can holiday with.

 

Bought specially for us to use on our holiday at Norfolk Island...

We didn’t have anything really planned for today.  This morning was all about finishing our packing and cleaning up our holiday house ready to hand the keys back at lunchtime.  We have also been blessed by the owner of Anson Bay Lodge, firstly he upgraded both our accommodation and our car and whilst we were here, he went out and bought a brand new picnic basket and flash for us to use on day outings around the island.   

Finally, we didn’t have to be out of our accommodation till noon rather than 10am and we were able to keep the car and just leave it at the airport when we left.

We were all packed by just after 10am and had the house ready to just hand over the key.  Since we still had a couple of hours to go before, we needed to leave we decided to play a game of 5 crowns.  Lovely way to chill out on our last day here… It was a good game, mostly because this is the first game I have won since being we arrived… 

By the time we had finished playing it was almost 11.30am so we figured we could leave now and just have one more stop at Anson Bay to appreciate the true natural beauty there…  It has been one of our favourite spots of the island with us heading there most days we have been there, either to just appreciate its natural beauty or to have wine and cheese around sunset….  

Every day you go the view is different depending on the seas.  Yesterday the water was calm and there were not waves therefore you saw it at it’s brilliant best with the beautiful shades of blues and greens.  Today it was quite rough with the surf pouring in pounding the rocks and creating beautiful frothy waterfalls down the sides of the rocks as the water receded.   Both equally beautiful in their own ways, and therefore one of the reasons why I could come here every day.

From Anson Bay we headed up to the lookout on Mt. Pitt, one of the highest points on the island which gives you 360-degree panoramic views of the whole island.  Today the weather was perfect not like the last time we were out here, so the richness of the greens of the land and the blues of the ocean made the island a sight to behold…. It was hard to draw ourselves away from here….

By now though it was after 12.30pm and we still had to fill the fuel tank in the car, have lunch and be at the airport by 2pm.  Again, we were blessed filling the tank with fuel as fuel prices were due to rise by .6c per litre that afternoon.  The other service station had already put up their prices and they were just about to do it…  Fuel on Norfolk is quite expensive anyway with us paying something like $2.33 per litre.  Fortunately, the island is pretty small and even with us gallivanting around the island traveling on every road on the island sometimes several times, we still only used one full tank of fuel. 

Once we were fueled up then it was time for lunch, so we headed back to the Golden Orb Bookshop and Café for our last meal on the island… We had been here on Sunday and really enjoyed the meal and the surroundings…. 

Our last lunch on the Island....

 The meals here were pretty big and neither of us felt like a big meal, so we decided just to get one meal between each couple.  They were very good and just divided the meal and served us with our own plate.  Great service.  

 Ian and Kathy opted for the Homemade Quiche and Salad, and once again Steve and I ordered the Seafood Crepe as it was really delicious and filled with seafood when we had it previously.  We were not disappointed, it was delicious and quite filling, so we were glad that we were sharing it…

By the time we finished lunch it was almost 2pm so time to head to the airport and book our luggage in.  Fortunately, the airport was only about 500m away so it didn’t take us too long to get there.  After our customary photos with our luggage in front of the airport sign, it was time to proceed into the checkout desk when we checked in.  We were told we could leave the airport again if we wished but we would need to be back again by 3pm.  There was nothing else we needed to do so just decided to find a table and wait at the airport. 

Ian had the 5 Crown card pack in his backpack, so we decided to have another game whilst we waited for our flight….  We got through about 6 or 7 rounds before we were called to proceed through security to board our plane.  We packed up the game and made the decision to finish it when we got home….

Once through security we still have another half an hour to wait in the boarding lounge until we were called for our flight….

 Heading onto the tarmac to board our flight....

This time, Ian and Kathy sat together in the row in front of us, and Steve and I got to sit together jus behind them.  I was blessed and had a window seat for this flight… 

 It was a beautiful clear day as we flew out over the islands to the south and the back around along the west coast of Norfolk Island and the views of the island were fantastic.  I even managed to get some good photos of it.  These views were much better than the views were when we arrived as the whole island was covered in a smoke haze from the bush fires from Australia…

Nepean Island from the air

Nepean and Norfolk Island

Emily Bay and Kingston from the air.

View of the airport runway on Norfolk Island...

Great Aerial view of Norfolk Island...

 Once out over the ocean we settled back into our seats.... I continued to read my book whilst Steve watched more episodes of "Pennyworth".. He had started viewing them on our flight over and had quite enjoyed them..

Enjoying my book..

Steve watching his movie..

 It was a pretty good flight home.  We climbed to around 34,000 ft and the flight took two hours.  It was such a clear day that we also able to see the coastline of Stradbroke Island as we flew over it.  In fact, it was so clear that you could even see right to the bottom of the ocean. 

First sighting of Australia as we flew over Stradbroke Island..

We arrived a little after our expected arrival time but got through customs pretty quickly…. It was nothing like the massive queue’s we had to endure earlier in the year when we arrived home from Denmark earlier in the year…

Again, we were blessed, as Ian and Kathy’s boarder Tyler had offered to come to the airport and pick us all up in their Rav 4.  (this was great for us to see if it would accommodate all our luggage as we are thinking of hiring one when we go to Canada in the middle of the year).

It is definitely our day for being blessed, as we arrived in Brisbane at peak traffic hour so were expecting delays on the motorway heading home… fortunately we had a clear run and no hold ups at all.  Tyler’s fiancé Ashley had cooked us a wonderful meal to welcome us home…. So so blessed…..

Lovely meal cooked for us by Ashley

It was good to be back in familiar territory and catch up on all the family news… Sarah had to go out this evening, so she dropped our car around to us, and Steve quickly ran her home, around the same time, that Justin (Ian and Kathy’s son-in-law) returned their car.   

Once the boys were back, we all enjoyed the lovely meal together and then finished our game of 5 Crowns before Steve and I left to head back to Sarah and Colin’s.  I might have one the game that morning, but I lost dismally this evening… 

It is hard to believe that the holiday has been and gone…. First of three done and dusted this year…..