How to visit Australia’s Lord Howe Island cloud forest in the Tasman Sea
It’s the island that’s been tipped as the new Byron Bay. But a stunning formation above a mountain has made this paradise even more appealing.
It’s the island that’s been tipped as the new Byron Bay.
A luxurious getaway that’s favoured by Chris Hemsworth and his young family, as well as comedian Hamish Blake and Go-To skincare founder Zoe Foster-Blake.
But a stunning feature that’s been captured hovering above the island in some of their recent holiday photos has shown off a rare phenomenon – and created a unique opportunity for Australian travellers to view a stunning ‘cloud forest’ in our own backyard.
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The beautiful ‘cloud forest’, which hovers between the 875-metre summit of Mount Gower and lower Mount Lidgbird on Lord Howe Island during summer months, is created by a balanced ecosystem that causes clouds to float directly over mountaintops.
As pictured in the recent trip to the island for both celebrity couples, the cloud formation appears when the air travelling across the ocean collects invisible water vapour, which then collides with the mountains before cooling and condensing into clouds.
Just a two-hour flight from Sydney, Lord Howe Island is surrounded by white sand beaches, lush forests and crystal clear waters right near parts of the Barrier Reef which is home to over 500 fish species and 90 species of coral.
Ecologist Dr Ian Hutton said the humidity from ‘cloud forests’ created a suitable climate for the growth of rare mosses on the island, as well as ferns and other flowering plants, some of which are found nowhere else on earth.
“Running around outside the door is one of the world’s rarest birds, the woodhen, seabirds are flying overhead, and after a five-minute walk from the house I can go down and have a swim in the world’s most southerly coral reef in our lagoon,” he told the ABC.
“It’s like living in a David Attenborough documentary, I guess. You are just totally immersed in nature.”