Norfolk Island Day 1 (Part 1)

On Tuesday night, Inspector Climate and I got back from our holiday to Norfolk Island (which happens to be on my life list). Where's that? Well...

It's an external territory of Australia (for the moment), which means that you need a passport to get there, even though technically you're flying from Australia to Australia.

We woke up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the airport in time for our flight to Sydney. Once in Sydney, we went through customs, and then were waiting around trying to find some food (gluten free vegetarians and airport food? Not a good mix) when I heard them calling my name over the loud speaker. My heart started pounding as they asked for passport and questions about my visa. I was so afraid they'd tell me I wouldn't be able to go. But, of course, it was all fine. It only took my heart about 10 minutes to stop pounding.

As we boarded our flight, our lovely and funny Air New Zealand flight attendants looks shocked "Look! Young people!" they said.

It was then we began to realise that in fact, we were the only people in our twenties on the plane. THE ONLY ONES.

Once we landed, we picked up our car (can one call it a "pick up" when the car is waiting for you in the airport parking lot with the keys stashed above the sun visor?) and immediately went searching for a place to find lunch - for this very hungry gluten free girl.

We'd seen a flyer for The Tea Pot a little cafe that had the best "pot of tea in town" and was open "most days."  But most importantly had gluten free food!  While we waited for our food, the owner (and chef, and gardener, and everything else) encouraged us to take a walk around the garden.

Many people asked us why we were interested in going to Norfolk Island while we were there (remember we were the youngest tourists they'd ever seen, apparently), and the truth is it's because of places like the Tea Pot. Norfolk Island made a choice to not import fresh produce. All their fruit and vegetables are grown locally on the island. So besides the stunning views (more on those in future posts), the tropical island paradise and laid back attitude, immense history of convict and Pitcairn settlers; I was drawn to Norfolk island because of their food.

I absolutely love tropical flowers, they always seem so exotic to my eye.

 After our quick bite, we got to exploring the island. We immediately went to the beach, which also happens to house a world heritage site of convict ruins. It's a strange thing to your left you've got beautiful beaches...

And to your right?

We went swimming, before hopping back into our car for the short drive back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

So what do you think? Does this little blip in the South Pacific sound like a place you'd want to visit?