Lord, Howe this island has taken a very different path to Rottnest

I’d never heard of Lord Howe Island until a year ago. Perth folk flee to Bali in their droves for a cheap island getaway. Or hop on a ferry to Rotto. Or if you can splurge, the Maldives.

Nestled off the coast of Sydney, halfway to New Zealand, this delightful South Pacific island is a tropical time capsule. No mobile coverage means a fleet of coin-fed relics, the once ubiquitous Telstra phone box, are dotted around the island.

A stunning aerial view of Lord Howe Island off the coast of Sydney. Credit: wallix

Making the journey from Perth to Lord Howe Island is anything but low-cost. Return flights via Sydney were north of $3000 per person in the shoulder season. A night’s accommodation in Sydney thanks to Qantas cancelling our same-day flight inflicted additional financial pain.

Accommodation on the island is limited to a spattering of operators and strictly limited to 400 guests ensuring that even at the height of summer there are never more than a handful of people on the island’s beaches.

At the ‘budget’ end seven nights will set you back around $4500, while the five-star Arajilla Retreat is priced at more than $15,000.

When our party of five checked in to Earls Anchorage we weren’t given a key. No one locks their doors here. Or their bikes. Try doing that on Rottnest during the annual summer migration and you’ll be hiking it back to your digs.

While Lord Howe Island doesn’t have the world’s happiest animal to take a selfie with, you can swim with Galapagos sharks if you dare, dubbed ‘curious’ and ‘friendly’ by locals. And plenty of birds, thanks to the eradication of invasive predators on the mainland.

The island is framed by the imposing Mt Gower which you can climb with a sixth-generation islander guide. Pitched as a hike, it’s more of a perilous eight-hour rope-assisted rock climb along exposed cliff faces with waves crashing down below.

It’s a serious and gruelling hike and not everyone makes it to the magical misty forest at the summit. If you asked me if I’d rather repeat the ‘hike’ or relive my four-hour, very painful drug-free birth to my now 6′5″ son I’d have to think about it.

Eating on a remote island isn’t cheap because most of the goods need to be shipped in. Prepare to be dumbstruck by how little you can get in your basket for $100 at one of the two general stores. A litre of UHT milk was $5. Eating at the restaurants is equally pricey. A main meal is around $80. Regulars know to cram as much food into their suitcases as possible bearing in mind the strict 14kg weight limit on flights to the island.

Like Rottnest, the island is small, just 11 kilometres long and two kilometres wide but the limit on guests means you can have many of the sand-bottomed beaches to yourself.

Up to 16,000 tourists visit the island each year according to the Lord Howe Island board, which comprises four islanders elected by the local community and three members appointed by the NSW Environment Minister, who govern the care and affairs of the island.

The residents are fiercely protective of their island home, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 and described by Sir David Attenborough as an unspoilt island “so extraordinary it is almost unbelievable.”

By way of contrast the WA Government has set a visitation target of 800,000 for Rottnest by 2034, nearly 5000 per cent greater than Lord Howe Island.

And it is certain to hit that target, with almost 770,000 people visiting in 2018. Post-pandemic total visitation rebounded to more than 570,000 in 2022 with a record influx of tourists (120,000) visiting in January 2023, up 24 per cent from January 2020.

Rottnest Island Samphire resort is one of several new accommodation options to open in the past few years.

More visitors mean more options to house, feed and entertain the crowds.

The Rottnest Island Authority recently released its revised management plan for the next five years, its ninth itineration, where it laid out its priorities which include increasing visitor numbers in the quieter seasons, particularly interstate and international travellers.

It’s a balancing act said chair Hamish Beck to deal with the pressures of more people on the island while conserving its natural assets.

“The authority has an important responsibility to find the balance between protecting the island’s environment and cultural heritage while accommodating the desire for people to visit the island and explore everything it has to offer,” he said.

The plan establishes a blueprint to further develop the island with significant renewal already evident with the opening of the $25 million glamping tents in 2019, the world-class Samphire Rottnest Resort in 2020 and the completion of The Lodge Wadjemup redevelopment due in 2025.

The authority continues to vet more private accommodation options in the face of burgeoning demand.

Expanding accommodation on vacant land and infill sites at the South Thomson Bay, North Thomson Bay, and Bathurst precincts is being explored and planning is underway to accommodate increasing staff numbers on land to the south of existing developments on Parker Point Road, behind Geordie Bay and Longreach Bay, and at Watjil Place.

But is what attracted people to Rottnest in the 80s in danger of being lost as more resort-style options spring up to cater for ever-increasing crowds? Has the island said bon voyage to that idyllic, car-free getaway that allowed kids to safely gather in their bike gangs and head down to the trampoline park on the water’s edge? Or is that simply meeting the more sophisticated demands of holidaymakers chasing something more than the basic offerings of decades gone by?

Kids trampolining on Rottnest Island in 1984. Credit: State Library of WA

Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti is comfortable that they are getting the balance right in their quest to draw more tourists to the state.

“We are unashamedly promoting Rottnest to the rest of the world,” she said.

“When we talk about the quokka selfie, it is about making sure people have an ambition that when they come here, they go to Rottnest.

“And they take that selfie and promote us to the rest of the world.”

Saffioti said critical infrastructure upgrades would offset negative environmental consequences.

Get alerts on significant breaking news as happens. Sign up for our Breaking News Alert.