World Heritage Home
By Daniel Clegg
18 Oct 2009
What city do you live in? What neighborhood?
Lord Howe Island is part of New South Wales in Australia. That it is six hundred kilometres east of the mainland in the Tasman Sea is only part of why it is so unique. It sits within a warm ocean current coming down from the tropics through the Great Barrier Reef. Is it the marine life that gets carried with the warm water that helps create the most southerly coral reefs in the world.
What are some adjectives that describe your neighborhood?
My 'neighborhood' is often described as a gem in the Pacific. The coral and other marine life is sooo colourful I would be more inclined to describe it as a treasure chest of jewels in the Pacific. The most part of what there is to see here is under the water so as soon as I arrived a year ago I learned scuba diving. I had always done snorkelling and so I bought the waterproof Olympus 'Toughie 8000' which I was learning to use untill I took it below the limit of thirty feet!
There are generally as many visitors here as locals. The visitors come for the scenery and some even discover the wonder that is under the water. The whole island and its many smaller surrounding islands are within a marine reserve which will attempt to protect it for all time.
How long have you lived there, and what brought you there?
I was invited to the island, seven years ago, by a beautiful woman who was born on the island. It was only recently, after both of my parents had passed away, that it was possible. We had met because of our mutual passion for caring for the environment. Both of us are involved in environmental activism.
What is your favorite thing about this place? Your least favorite?
Which leads me to answer, 'what is my favorite thing about this place?' It is simply that I love the natural environment here. It is a photographers paradise where every direction you could point a camera there is a photo opportunity.
So what's the downside you ask? Yes, as an environmentalist I see some downsides. 'They' want to freeze this point in time, ecologically speaking, and that is unsustainable. Change is inevitable and new species that turn up on the doorstep must not be shot as interlopers to their pristine environment. I also see that more attention needs to be paid to sewage treatment here, but then so do the locals and inroads are being made in that direction.
Do you feel that you belong there?
I have only been here a year. Talk to any of the locals and they start by telling you how many generations their families have been here. They are a proud people who didn't disperse a nation of people to take ownership of the land. The longer I am here, the more I will feel I am part of it.
What is the most common misconception about where you live?
It is a paradise, but it is a very managed paradise. To achieve that look takes tons of herbicide, the importation of ALL goods and services and the usustainable use of diesel to generate most of the electricity.
A common misconception by visitors here is that the locals own their land and so are sitting on a gold mine. Alas, the government took the land off the locals some years back and now the locals must pay huge fees including leases to live here.
What is a special fact about your city that you have to live there to know?
Phew, now for something a bit lighter. Para surfers and sailboarders delight in the fact it is the second windiest place on earth....sometimes. A group came here recently to do just that but it was dead calm for the three weeks they were here.
What aspect of your city do you secretly love?
Secretly I love that there is a limit to the guest numbers the government allow on the island. That rule allows a walk in solitude or trails not eroded from over use. The lagoon is not obviously polluted by overpopulation and I think........ I could live the rest of my life here.
2 responses
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rory adityawan said (20 Oct 2009):
what can I say browe.. so lucky.. u get your self a great Live.. being an environmentalist... and living in paradise.. and by the way.. who's that lucky beautifull woman? haha..
great story.. and great place.. have a great live browe.. -
Steve Baker gave props (21 Oct 2009):
Gorgeous story, and a gorgeous place!
