Air Chats Autumn 2023

Uniquely Norfolk

It has been – let’s be frank! – the summer of our discontent, but Air Chathams is here to help: escape the weather and the back-to-work blues with a getaway like no other on an island like no other: Norfolk Island, it’s got everything under the sun, and more.

At less than three hours flight time from Auckland International Airport, Norfolk Island really is right in our backyard. In fact, we’re virtually neighbours, which is why it’s so surprising that many Kiwis know so little about this little piece of Pacific paradise.

Most of us equate it with the Bounty mutineers and as being a gloomy convict colony, but while it is true that many Islanders are descendants of crewmen from The Bounty, the Island’s days as a prison were a remarkably short period of its history. There is, in short, a lot more to Norfolk Island than most of us know.

For a start it has it’s own indigenous language – Norf’k – derived from the 18th century English of the sailors and the Tahitian language of their wives. Though it is considered an endangered language by UNESCO, the Island’s 2,100 inhabitants are keeping it alive and well. So when you visit don’t be ippy (a silly person) and be sure to say watawieh (hello) and si yourley morla (see you tomorrow) to the locals as you travel around from daffy (here) to deffy (there).

The natural beauty of the island comes as a huge surprise to many visitors

Other local customs worth adopting while you are travelling the Island are the Norfolk Wave –whereby all motorists give each other a friendly gesture when passing – and the rather more peculiar fact that cows frequently wander the roads and have the right of way, by law! At just 34 square kilometres there is not a great deal of need for motorized transport for many tourists though – so the cows can do as they wish –but there is an astonishing amount to see. In addition to the obvious historical sites of the old settlement and convict quarters – which have UNESCO Heritage status – the natural beauty of the island comes as a huge surprise to many visitors. Over 30% of the Island is national park and there are numerous walks that take you around the highlights: the beautiful blue lagoon of Emily Bay, teeming with fish, the spectacular cliffs of Anson Bay, the 360 degree views from atop Mount Pitt, and the amazing night skies of an island with the rare and coveted Gold Level of the Australian Dark Sky Register. Be sure to bring your camera as Norfolk Island is a photographer’s paradise, boasting some of the most spectacular sunsets and sunrises and ocean and sky vistas on earth.

The merging of two cultures produced more than a unique language however, it also produced a fantastically unique cuisine, and one that takes full advantage of all the surrounding ocean’s bounty as well as the zero carbon ‘gate-to-plate’ produce that the Island’s rich soils produce. Everything from beef to cheese and honey is produced locally, all fantastically fresh and deliciously decadent – this is after all, where fresh cream is called Norfolk Gravy. The Island is in fact becoming something of a rising star in the foodie scene, and with delights like just-caught kingfish prepared on an Argentinian barbecue or flame grilled Norfolk Island beef served up in the atmospheric dining room of a convict era home it’s easy to see why. There are plenty of restaurant options, and the legendary Progressive Dinner in which locals welcome you into their homes for a moving feast is not to be missed, but a real standout is an Island fish fry.

This uniquely Norfolk custom sees fresh local seafood, salads, and veges, all expertly prepared with a Tahitian twist, served not only on cliff tops, but while the sun goes down. You’ll soon be moosa buss (bursting from eating too much), but hey, so will everyone else.

This is what Norfolk Island is all about. Making the most of nature, it’s splendor and it’s harvest, and enjoying it as a community, in a way that is at the same time quirky yet eminently sensible. This is, after all, a place where the local phone directory also has listings under nicknames, because, well, that’s how the locals know each other.

And after the trials and tribulations of a global pandemic and the wettest summer on record you deserve to get to know Norfolk, its quirks, its beauty, its people. Probably we all do.