Lord Howe Island – 7 Days

Lord Howe Island is a little blip of land in a big ocean, anchored by two large mountains of volcanic origin at the southern end, a ridge at the other, with a lagoon running along its western side. It is lush, beautiful, peaceful.
To be cossetted in the beautiful surrounds of Arajilla Retreat, fed wonderful food beautifully presented, enjoy the company of a fun, like minded group – what’s not to enjoy?
Then there were our two lovely and superb guides, Marie and Katie. Good fun, helpful, flexible, nothing seemed too much trouble, whether they were out the front leading or ensuring the safe return of some of the slower walkers, like me.
The walking required a lot of concentration and is measured more in ups and downs than kms covered, as there are many steps and paths can be very slippery and uneven with hidden challenges from roots and rocks.
The scenery is superb, with the different light changing the landscape, and the kentia palms, banyans and other vegetation providing intriguing scenes.
An afternoon snorkelling over the brilliant coral on the edge of the lagoon was a wonderful experience, again with great support offered to those who needed it.
A most enjoyable week in a stunning landscape. Thank you Auswalk.

“This was an amazing holiday. A nice balance of active days and luxury at night.
Lord Howe Island is absolutely beautiful. Don’t think of a typical Qld island – it is not full of cafes and restaurants and bars for rowdy drunk tourists. I found it like a friendly country town.
Arajilla is a stunning place to stay. The rooms are spacious and modern. They provide everything you need – backpack, beachbag, beach towel, slippers, robe (this all helps with the luggage limits) and you can borrow snorkelling gear and bikes and more. The staff are friendly and helpful and magically remember all the things you like. They have a great deal with the retreat, which would usually cost significantly more – to stay there as part of the package is such a treat.
The food is crazy good. A menu for breakfast! It’s hard to pick. Gourmet sandwiches for packed lunches. A three course fine dining dinner – the food is amazing and the presentation is exquisite. And happy hour at 5.30 is a real treat after an active day, a good chance to rewind with your group and guides and enjoy great wines.
Marie and Paul are wonderful guides. Patient and considerate of everyone’s experience. Knowledgeable about the Island – flora, fauna and history. They are very warm and funny and great company. I really hope to walk with them again. And little details like bringing varied snacks for trail snacks, and Paul took breathtaking photos the whole trip – he is a great photographer- and spent a lot of time and effort so that we will all have those photos.
The walks are varied but inevitably involve amazing views, close up experiences of the wildlife and a sense of achievement. The Goat House walk is hard but worth it when you stop to have lunch at a cave overlooking most of the island. Doable at your own pace. There are walks to different lookouts and beaches. You can really cover most of the island.
Mt Gower is a hard walk, it is really a climb. You need determination, endurance to walk up increasingly steep sections for hours and upper body strength because a significant part requires using ropes to ascend and descend. Unlike other walks, you can’t just deal with the steep bits at your own pace, the group needs to maintain a certain pace to get up and back in 8 – 9 hours. It is slippery if it gets wet and you are navigating slippery boulders and tree roots. BUT I am not a wiry athlete at all and with a sense of determination to just keep going and focus on each step, I did it. I couldn’t have done it without Paul’s encouragement and support and talking me through my fears when I got scared of heights at the cliff sections. I have no doubt it would have been the same if Marie was the guide for that walk that day. Give it a go, you can stop half way. Dean the approved guide from his environmental tour company was very knowledgeable about the Island and the Information he conveyed along the way was really interesting. The rainforest up the top is magical and you are rewarded with great views of the entire island. The providence petrals up there who clumsily crash through the trees when called by Dean were awesome. YouTube them to see what I mean. I really wanted to experience that and I am glad I did.
The trip includes a snorkelling trip. You must go. I haven’t been snorkelling before and I found it intimidating at first but then amazing to float by the reefs and such beautiful and varied ocean life, including reef sharks and turtles, it’s nice and clear and clean. Others who have done a lot of snorkelling said it rivals the Great Barrier Reef. You don’t have to boat for ages to get there and back, it’s a quick boat ride and plenty of time in the water. We also had a great barbecue by the beach one day and went for a swim and fed the fish.
On free time you can borrow a bike to explore the island, play golf, go to the museum (they show a Frank Hurley video if you time it right) check out various beaches (you may see turtles), feed the fish or borrow a paddle board at Ned’s beach or hire a kayak and kayak around the lagoon – in an hour I managed a paddle around Rabbit Island (the island in the centre of the lagoon) and back, and I have little kayaking experience.
Auswalk are a great company to walk with. They are very professional and organised. The staff are so helpful, if you are thinking about a trip but not sure about something, just call or email and ask. The guides are always fantastic. They must negotiate crazy deals so you stay in luxury accomodation whilst the trip prices still rival those of other walking companies. I hope to walk with them, esp Marie and Paul, again.
Tips – check luggage requirements, your bag really may turn up the next day, so wear your boots and scrunch some shorts and top and underwear in your daypack in case your luggage is delayed. Take washing powder to hand wash your hiking gear so you don’t need 7 lots. Take $1 coins to feed the amazing (big and colourful) fish that will come to you at Ned’s beach, there is a machine that dispenses pellets that takes $1 coins. Take other notes – you can hire boards and paddling gear by honour system at Ned’s beach and the museum is free but takes donations. Look at the time for the evening talks at the museum; for me happy hour ultimately took priority but it’s worth looking at the start of the week (in the info book at Arajilla) because you may prefer to cycle down one evening before dinner.
This is best holiday I have ever had. Well organised, amazing luxury accomodation and food, great walks, fantastic guides, amazing birds and wildlife, beautiful views and flora, great company, trying new activities – a nice mix of luxury and activity. You’ll love it!”

The whole experience was great, very nice accommodation with plenty of food, excellent walks with fantastic views, great guides, and the actually island was lovely and worth while seeing and you get to see the entire island by foot. This is a place I could easily go back to. Overall it was an enjoyable week and I could of stayed longer.

I have just returned from an Auswalk guided walking trip to Lord Howe Island and I couldn’t fault a thing. The accommodation was excellent ( with incredible meals), we walked every day, covering all possible walks on the island, even Mt. Gower for those (that were able !!) ,we had a BBQ and snorkel at Neds Beach one day, and snorkelling in the lagoon on another day.
Last but by no means least, we had great guides Marie and Brett, who had organised every little thing, even down to muesli bars with our packed lunches. They were great fun and we had a lovely group of like minded people which made it even better.
Do yourselves a favour – if you plan a walking trip within Australia – look at Auswalks first. They are a very professional group and think of everything to make your holiday enjoyable.

We have just finished the self guided Blue Mountain Traverse. Loved it …..mostly. The hikes were excellent but we did not realize there would be so many stairs/steps/ladders down into the valley and back up. Although we are in our early 70’s we are avid walkers/hikers and are comfortable in walking in the Appalachians of the USA. But our local Virginia walks traverse the hillsides and switch back up and down hill. The Auswalk trip challenged our knees and leg muscles as we attacked the hundreds of stone steps, steel ladders, and exposed ups and downs. The only fault we lay on Auswalk is that they could have done a better job providing information on how strenuous portions of this walk could be. The scenery is brilliant. The route notes and maps are superb. Organization and arrangements were the best. Accomodations ( and the wonderful inn keepers) were top drawer in historic lodging in scenic locations.If you are in relatively good shape and know what you are getting into this is a wonderful way to get to know some parts of Australia that are unfamiliar to North Americans.