A weekend on Lord Howe Island

[Mattg]

Last weekend I had the privilege of visiting Lord Howe Island, a tiny island about 600km off the coast of New South Wales.

I’d wanted to visit for ages, but had always been put off by the high airfares (over $1,000 for a return ticket!). Then, a few weeks ago I happened to find some classic reward seats for 16,000 Qantas points and $169 return. I booked immediately!

I then had to find some accommodation for one night. This was actually pretty difficult. None of the resorts/lodges on the island take bookings through aggregator websites like Booking.com, and many also require you to stay for a minimum number of nights. So, I picked up the phone and called about a dozen accommodation providers. Booking two weeks out, only one had a room available for the night! Again, I booked immediately.

Fast-forward two weeks and the day of the trip had arrived! It was a Saturday morning and I was on QF2264, the second flight for the day from Sydney to Lord Howe Island.

As with all QantasLink flights to LDH, the operating aircraft was a 36-seater Dash 8-200. These planes are specifically required for flights to Lord Howe Island due to the short runway.



Legroom shot:



We were greeted on board by the lovely flight attendant Sonja. There were only 22 passengers on board; most were residents returning home and there were also a few retired couples heading to the island for a holiday.

The 2 hour flight departed on time at 7.45am, and soon we were heading out over the Tasman Sea. A snack box was served to each passenger, along with complimentary drinks. Wine and beer were available and proactively offered, despite the early departure time.



Unfortunately the single toilet stopped working shortly after departure and was out of action for most of the flight. The flight attendant was very apologetic.

We got our first glimpse of the island shortly before touchdown.

 

[Mattg]

If anyone's interested, I took a video of the landing at LDH:

 

[Mattg]

The terminal building at Lord Howe Island Airport is still under construction, so after arriving we basically just walked off the plane and straight into the carpark! It seemed that half the island had turned out to meet the flight, with many welcoming relatives or picking up visitors to take them to their accommodation.



This was the baggage carousel. If you look closely, you can also see the airport bathroom facilities in the background:



I was met by one of the hosts from Hideaway Apartments, who took me to my accommodation via a brief tour of the island. The accommodation was very comfortable, but the highlight was the hosts. They were so welcoming, and even let me borrow a bicycle for free when we discovered the bike rental place happened to be closed that day.

There are a few cars on the island, but most people just get around on bikes. The main part of the island is only a few kilometres long, and there are bike racks everywhere, so getting around is easy enough. (And if you decide to go out for dinner, some restaurants will even drive you home afterwards.)

There's a great sense of community on the island. There are only 400 or so residents, and everyone knows everybody. There's virtually no crime, although the police officer does apparently catch people riding bikes without wearing a helmet occasionally!

The real highlight though is the island's incredible natural beauty. There are some beautiful beaches, plenty of interesting walks and lots of unique native birds & wildlife. I spent an afternoon walking up Malabar Hill in the northern part of the island. You can also hike up Mount Gower on the south of the island, but that is a full-day climb.

There are a few restaurants and convenience stores on the island. Understandably, they're not cheap.

There was no phone reception or internet available where I was staying, but that's kind of the point. It seems to be a great place to just relax and disconnect from the rest of the world for a little while.

 

[Mattg]

Various photos from around the island...

 

[Mattg]

I departed the following morning on QF2255 feeling much more relaxed than I did when I arrived. Back at the airport there were a few picnic tables set up on the grass for passengers, and a little kiosk sold coffee and souvenirs. When it was time for boarding, the lady just came over and told us that they were ready. No priority boarding… but with only 16 passengers on this flight it wasn't needed!




The takoeff was interesting enough… we taxied right to the end of the runway, and the pilots revved the engines while leaving the brakes on for 10-15 seconds. Once the brakes were released, we took off like a rocket and were in the air in no time.



Once again, the service on this flight was excellent. Chris came through the cabin at the start of the flight to personally welcome every passenger and take drink orders. Again, a snack box was served.



So, there you have it! If you've been thinking about visiting Lord Howe Island, I would definitely encourage you to do so. But instead of paying thousands in airfares, do keep an eye out for those classic reward seats! I calculated that this redemption was worth 7.8 cents per Qantas point, which is unbeatable value!

 

[get me outta here]

Hi Mattg, would you plse say how much pn the accommodation was, and how you got food? Thanks

 

[Mattg]

Hi Mattg, would you plse say how much pn the accommodation was, and how you got food? Thanks

I paid $200 for the night, which seemed to be mid-range. The prices do vary on a seasonal basis, being higher in summer and lowest in winter.

There are a few restaurants but the apartment where I stayed did have a kitchen, so you could buy and cook your own food from one of the general stores.

 

[kpc]

Thanks for the report of your brief stay. We have been to LDH twice for 3 nights each time in the last 3 years, and really enjoyed it. Getting award flights now, unless last minute, seem just about impossible

 

[mmchow]

Thanks for sharing Mattg. Have always wanted to visit Lord Howe but the expensive airfare and limited award availability makes it a little hard to plan.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Congratulations. You have more visited paradise.

 

[LadyC]

Looks beautiful - thanks for posting.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Lord Howe is on our list !

 

[BAM1748]

NIce report and photos always appreciated.

 

[tgh]

It's a lovely place although a week might be a century for some as it's pretty quiet.
The Mt Gower walk is superb.
Along with Norfolk , amazing unspoiled beauty on our doorstep.

 

[OZDUCK]

Lovely photos - thank you for the TR.

 

[zig]

It's been on my list to visit for sometime now, but the cost of airfares is off putting. Your luck in finding an award flight encourages me to keep trawling. I assume you only stayed the one night because of the award flight availability?? If going I would like to stay more than 1 day/night.

 

[samh004]

Really hope to go one day, great report.

My fear has always been what if you jump on the airfares but then fail to find accommodation, or vice versa. I'm guessing QF would waive cancellation fees if you phoned them within 24 hours and said you could get accommodation though.

 

[Mattg]

It's been on my list to visit for sometime now, but the cost of airfares is off putting. Your luck in finding an award flight encourages me to keep trawling. I assume you only stayed the one night because of the award flight availability?? If going I would like to stay more than 1 day/night.

The award availability was the limiting factor. I could have stayed for 1 night or 7 nights, and 7 nights away would have been too long in this instance. But keep searching for award seats and you will eventually find something that suits you. Most of the seats seem to be released at the last minute (or at least, less than a month out) these days.

Really hope to go one day, great report.

My fear has always been what if you jump on the airfares but then fail to find accommodation, or vice versa. I'm guessing QF would waive cancellation fees if you phoned them within 24 hours and said you could get accommodation though.

I literally booked the flights while on the phone with the guest house. As you say, I didn't want to book one and then find I couldn't get the other.

My advice would be that if you find award seats that work, ring around the different accommodation providers on the island until you find an opening.

 

[samh004]

The award availability was the limiting factor. I could have stayed for 1 night or 7 nights, and 7 nights away would have been too long in this instance. But keep searching for award seats and you will eventually find something that suits you. Most of the seats seem to be released at the last minute (or at least, less than a month out) these days.

As your flight out was 22/36 seats and flight back was 16/36 seats, I wonder what the likelihood of getting a last minute award seat release based on FF status would be like. After all, they might want cash more than points but an empty seat earns them nothing.

My conundrum is I like filling out my route map, so I would have to go twice if only to complete the third (seasonal) route of PQQ-LDH.

Other issue of course is that my job requires internet access so I could maybe go a day or two away, as I have recently in hospital but I'd prefer to pick up some internet to keep on top of things.

I'll probably have a long-range scan of dates thanks to the classic flight reward sale that just popped up and hope for favourable weather.

 

[Jim Walsh]

Raced on a yacht to there in the early 90's. Was an amazing place, with a 100 or so sailors on the island it was a bit wilder than normal. Rules were you hired a bike and then just took what ever one was closest, lots of people with grazes. When we got to the airport to fly home there was nobody there. We all stood there and looked at each other then the phone on the wall rang and someone answered it and the person on the other end said good your all there the plane will be here in 15 minutes. I had stupidly left my ticket on the yacht (paper of course) and they called the harbour master and I ran down to the beach to meet him in his boat and he took me out to get it. Very casual place.