AUSTRALIA: A list of things you may like to do

Like Norfolk, the Lord Howe Islands Group is weird.

Unlike all the other Australian External Territories, it’s part of a State (New South Wales) probably because the British wanted someone else to deal with it for them sometime before 1901.

Also like Norfolk, it’s in the middle of the Pacific, about 600km from Australia.

Since it’s so far from everywhere, it’s got all manner of funky plants and wildlife you won’t find anywhere else. Another World Herritage Site.

There are 29 islands, islets and rocks rising up out of the sea in the Lord Howe Island Group. The most famous of these minor islands is Balls Pyramid, which is home to the only known wild population of the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect — previously thought to be extinct.