In the footsteps of Chris Hemsworth on Lord Howe Island
This treasure of an isle has long been preserved as a place of simple pastimes and pleasures. You might just run into a Hollywood celebrity or two.
So, what’s new? It’s a jokey question to ask a resident of Lord Howe Island, a destination where time doesn’t quite stand still but moves at a glacial pace. This treasure of an isle, two hours by air off the NSW coast, has long been preserved as a place of simple pastimes and pleasures, with a reassuring sense of yesteryear. Remember the speed limit is 25km/h and leave your car keys in the ignition. Return waves from passers-by, dress down and go the full beachcomber. Be armed with $1 coins to drop into honesty boxes for fish pellet feed. There’s Wi-Fi but you won’t be able to make mobile phone calls. Create your own excitement, connect with the locals. There’s little to do but much to enjoy.
But on landing at the toylike airport, fenced to keep out the cows, the response to my query about the latest developments is not met by the usual laughter. Hang on, there are at least three new attractions to report. There’s a cocktail bar, an island-branded gin and a chic holiday compound, Island House, favoured by the likes (so far) of Chris Hemsworth, brothers Liam and Luke, their extended family, all in company with New Zealand film director Taika Waititi of Thor fame. It opened late last year and this is where I’m booked to stay, sans Hollywood entourage.
Island House has been created on the former site of the Pandanus holiday apartments tucked on Anderson Road behind the main township. The property features two near-identical homes, harmoniously sited and hunkered low in a garden estate flourishing with palms, flowering vines and sculptural succulents.
‘The South House fit-out is like a spread from Architectural Digest but with permission to enter, fling that beach towel and discard holiday hats and thongs’
The look is modernist, voluminous and open plan with every finish and detail considered, from oak floorboards and walls to black steel and copper trimmings. The two-bedroom residences are dubbed North and South, the latter with more privacy for, say, two couples as the second bedroom is detached via a breezeway. The oiled hardwood exteriors are squat and sturdy, but with a light hold on the sloping land, thanks to a buoyant airiness and linear profiles.
Island House has been “built for the weather”, says Timmy Maxwell, who has had plenty of time to study the seasons and explore every crevice of his family’s property as he was stranded on site from April to October last year when flights were suspended between Lord Howe and the mainland. It was hardly a repeat of Tom Hanks in Cast Away to be marooned in such luxury but Maxwell is a chatty, sociable chap and admits it was an odd, lonely experience. And while he laughs about being “the caretaker” of Island House, his role is of general manager, which he handles with great charm and care. He’s not letting on too much about the Hemsworth takeover but will admit it was “very busy”.
My stay is anything but. I worry I have too few demands, can’t make a dent in the lavishly stocked pantry, the bar or the fridge heaving with coconut water and organic produce. I hold no desire to sully the exquisite Japanese kitchen choppers, Italian knives and cooking utensils. Whenever I feel remotely hungry, up pops, as if by magic, chef Kimie Uemoto, late of Nagoya. With husband Hiro, also a chef, the couple act as on-call concierges. As I relax, explore shelves stacked with an eclectic array of books, and power up the stereo (James Taylor LPs get a workout), I realise there’s no guilt in staying put. Besides, I haven’t yet tried the alfresco copper tub, the lemon myrtle bath foam, or asked Alexa to perform tricks on command while I gaze through the telescope pointing towards groves of hefty banyans and the island’s emblematic kentia, the so-called parlour palm of the Victorian era, and spread about here as soft and fluffed as eiderdowns.
But my eye is automatically drawn inwards as the South House fit-out is like a spread from Architectural Digest but with permission to enter, fling that beach towel and discard holiday hats and thongs. I play spot the maker as I check out Scandinavian furniture acquired on a Maxwell family shopping expedition to Copenhagen, a display wall of calligraphic-like works by Danish contemporary artist Tine Holscher, and kiln-fired pieces by Australian-based Japanese ceramicist Keiko Matsui. There are exquisite Indigenous paintings, including a canvas of finely looped fishing nets, a textured masterpiece of warp and weft, by Regina Wilson. Oh, here’s Kimie with a platter of tuna and kingfish sashimi drizzled with yuzu oil, accompanied by a salad full of goodness from the Island House garden, topped with purple-speckled Osaka mustard greens that add spice and warmth.
To learn more about such green abundance, Timmy takes me to his family’s nursery, about 100m down the hill, where estate-grown produce is for sale, including rocket, bok choy, spinach and kale; and endemic kentia palms cultivated in glasshouses are available as seedlings to take home in nifty cardboard cylinders.
There’s something new in the wings here, too, as the Maxwells are thinking of a microbrewery and cafe, maybe a food truck, but all “small scale and local”.
And so to The Crooked Post, a bar set snug in the former post office and wireless station. It’s so casual that you could bump into the owner, physiotherapist Tim Cruikshank, or the Thai masseuse who operates the adjoining spa salon. The style is island-chic shack-shed, opening at 3pm and closing “whenever-ish”. There are comfy cane seats, funky swings and stools on the lagoon-facing veranda. Foam-collared Island Sours, sweetened with hibiscus syrup, are flying out the door, with Mexican Car Crashes in hot pursuit. Little pots of herbs stand ready to be plucked for garnishes.
It’s here I meet Anthony Riddle of Lord Howe Island Distilling Co, who introduces himself as a sixth-generation “son of the island”. He tells me about his small-batch pot-distilled spirits, including vodka infused with the juice of wild bush lemons planted by early settlers. Riddle says the fruit is uniquely aromatic, thick-skinned and thorny. This hardy citrus is used in the company’s gin, too, along with hibiscus. You’ll find the spirits at most restaurants and resorts on Lord Howe and, most likely, your city’s bottle shops. “What if you could capture the essence of World Heritage beauty in a bottle …” That’s the thought that began the company’s journey, which hopes to move its production process “home” from the mainland and set up an island distillery. Riddle and business partner Christian Young also run Lord Howe Island Brewing Co, and the likes of a Golden Whistler lager, with suitable bird motif on the can, has been another successful gambit.
Aside from these latest goings-on, Lord Howe’s enduring lure is always the prospect of connecting with nature, just being and breathing. I paddle with swarming mullet at sheltered Ned’s Beach and ask Timmy what the blue fish flapping about my ankles are called. He replies, “Blue fish.” He also says size is estimated by cooking capacity. “So, a two-pan fish means a big one.” I hike along roads that feel like long, cool tunnels as low boughs sleeved in green sweep to the ground. Woodhens bustle past. Signs warn of mutton birds crossing.
At the island’s southern end, the peaks of Lidgbird and Gower loom like the set of Jurassic Park. There are picnic tables, barbecues set with chopped wood, multiple spots to sit and gaze, trails to follow, nature-based tours to take, yoga classes at Signal Point Lookout, and excellent marine activities just offshore. I spy hawksbill and green turtles amid the seagrass at Old Settlement Beach and take an “ultimate” snorkelling tour with LHI Environmental Tours out to a series of coral gardens in the lagoon. Koko from Hawaii kits up many of my fellow passengers in wetsuits but I decline as the water is warm and silky on bare arms and legs and I float freely over black stingrays, double-header wrasse and brightly striped butterfly fish. A Galapagos shark moves with eerie stealth over coral the colour of cornflowers.
Breathe. Swim. Snorkel. Walk. Sleep. Repeat. It’s the best holiday mantra imaginable. And let’s add watching extraordinary sunsets, perhaps with a hibiscus-flavoured something in hand. And, at Island House, I have The Eagles on repeat. Take it easy … Peaceful easy feeling … You get the picture.
In the know
Island House accommodates eight guests across its two residences. The property is designed for full site hire, from $6600-$7260 a night, but single house use is available on request. All-inclusive, including catering, stocked kitchen and bar, leisure equipment, concierge service and myriad extras. QantasLink flies regularly from Sydney, Brisbane (weekends only) and Port Macquarie on a seasonal basis.
More to the story
It’s the pre-dinner drinks and canapes session at Arajilla Retreat on Lord Howe Island and the guests I join tell me that for decades they’ve holidayed here every other year, and always for at least 10 days. They say it’s quiet and tucked away, there’s no mobile phone reception and it feels a million miles from reality. The service is like “warm hugs from old friends”, I’m told.
After just 24 hours, I get what they mean. The low-lying retreat is on the island’s northern end, spread between kentia palms, venerable banyan trees and well-established native greenery. Old Settlement Beach is a short stroll or cycle away and the sense of seclusion is absolute. It’s not a designer-driven property, although regular decor refreshes of the main facilities and 12 timber cabin suites set along a meandering boardwalk have ensured a contemporary character. There’s a shot of Balinese style in stone statuary of Ganesha and fellow Hindu gods bedecked with frangipani and hibiscus and across the decor of the day spa, where an Ayurvedic treatment beckons. Textiles are patterned with botanical motifs that echo the landscape, while louvred windows, pale-tiled ensuites and polished floors keep the look light and airy.
Breakfast and three-course dinner are included in the tariff (lunches and picnics or DIY barbecue packs also offered) and the food is inventive and beautifully plated, with an emphasis on island produce, including myriad herbs. Expect the likes of chargrilled yellowfin tuna dressed with lime salsa or confit duck leg with Thai flavours and soy-braised vegetables. A package of stay six nights and pay five starts at $4125 a person, twin-share, covering daily breakfast, dinner and selected drinks, plus bikes, beach kits and snorkelling gear.
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of Lord Howe Island Tourism and Island House.