Planning a one-week stay to experience all the natural wonders of Lord Howe Island next month – have done a forum search but apart from a general consensus that it’s the essence of an island paradise, there’s not much info or jbr’s.

Has anyone been recently – any tips?

Many thanks,
Jackie

Hi Jackie,

I don't have any first hand info myself (and won't have enough time on my next trip either), but I have an agent friend of mine who was just recently there and said it was wonderful -- if you have specific questions, let me know and I'll ask her.

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

Thanks for your reply, Melodi

Have done quite a bit of research as it’s been one of my dream destinations for years. Lots of info on the Lord Howe tourist site http://www.lordhoweisland.info ... history, tours, accommodation, restaurants etc.

We’re planning to stay at the Milky Way Holiday apartments on Old Settlement Beach http://www.milkyway.net.au/ and was hoping for some Fodorite input, as I couldn’t find any accommodation reviews on the net. Perhaps your agent friend knows this place?

We’re hoping to book a special package deal through http://www.bestflights.com.au/ which offer 5 nights accom plus airfare at $775 pp – pretty amazing considering the normal Qantas return airfare to LHI is over $1,000! Have you had any experience with this Best Flights travel agent? Are they legit? Too good to be true?

Many thanks,
Jackie

Have found a very comprehensive Lord Howe trip report on the tripadvisor.com website http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...uth_Wales.html with many useful tips and info.

Contacted BestFlights with our request over four days ago (two phone calls and an email) but have yet to get ANY response, so guess that doesn’t bode well.


Jackie

Jackie,

I'll send off an email to my friend Janelle; she's been in the travel business for about 20 years, so when she's impressed by something I tend to listen to her!

And no, the company doesn't seem to be very professional in responding to you in a timely fashion -- but, maybe they're just incredibly busy...

Stay tuned,

Melodie

Hi Melodie

Looking forward to what your friend Janelle advises, many thanks

In the meantime, I've just now - after five days of waiting - received a response from BestFlights (even tho' they promote their services as being fast, efficient, cheapest and operating 24/7.)

And yes, it was too good to be true. Their web-site advertised price of $775 has suddenly become $1,065

Will do some more searching, though - Oxley Travel have a September special of 7nights + airfare @ $961 pp and they specialise exclusively in Lord Howe and Norfolk, so perhaps more reliable.

Fingers crossed!
Jackie

Hi Jackie,

re: "Bestflights" -- yeah, that's what I was afraid of......not a reputable company - and pulled the old "bait and switch" on you as far as price goes as well.

Below is Janelle's reponse (and I thought the same thing when you mentioned the airfare rate (it sounded too high).
///////////////////////////////////////


I don't know about this property - have never seen or heard of it. The only place I use is Capella Lodge
which is as nice as Lizard Island at 1/2 the price. As LDH caters mainly to Australians the other accommodations can be very 'local' and I would stay
away from them if I had US clients who don't take kindly to such things as cockroaches in the shower (a fairly normal occurence in Australia as we've spoken about). The airfare is not as expensive as this person says, as there are domestic airpass rates so this is
not necessarily a good deal. I have booked R/T air for around 600usd if space is available (with 14 seats on
each flight, space is often NOT available).

Never heard of the internet agency either.

Hi Melodie

Many thanks to you and Janelle for your help.

Yeah, I had checked Capella Lodge but they are waaaay out of our budget with their website advertised prices from low season $900 to high season $980 per couple per night
This does include brekkie and dinner, plus sunset drinks – but at that price, would cause heartburn! Interestingly, the one complaint of LHI on TripAdvisor was from an American visitor about cockroaches at Capella! Those beasties show no respect for or discrimination against luxury class, http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...uth_Wales.html


As far as I could gather, Qantas (QantasLink) are the only airline to fly to LHI using Dash-8s (capacity about 30) and their cheapest fares ex-Sydney are $534 return for the Red-e-deal tickets, and $1,158 return for the fully-flexible tickets.

Contacted Oxley Travel who appear to be endorsed by the LHI Tourist Association (included on their official website in the drop-down “holiday deals’ menu) and they also pulled the old ‘bait and switch’ scam – their advertised September special of $961 mysteriously increased to $1,219 without explanation or apology.

Think I’ll put the LHI dream back under my pillow for a while, and try again next year when we can utilize our frequent flyer points and make all bookings as independent travellers. (FF seats to LHI are very popular and the only way to get 7-day return seats is to book months in advance.)

Thanks again for all your help,
A rather Jackie

Ah, Sad Jackie!

sorry that your dream has to go under your pillow for awhile. FF mileage becomes increasingly harder and harder to get; make sure you plan in advance and have flexible travel dates to maximize your chances!

Interesting about the cockroaches (and I hate those buggers)!

Regards,

Melodie

Furrytiles, have you looked at OliverandHarrys Norfolk zIsland report currently resting at # 21; perhaps that's an alternative.
Andrewdavid

Hi AndrewD, yes read OlivernHarry's great Norfolk trip report at soon as it hit the board - but thanks for the tip

Hi Melodie ... yes, have just run the gauntlet of Qantas FF availability, and the closest is late April/early May next year! But that includes our connecting flight to Sydney, so hopefully the LHI dream will eventuate next year. Another seven months of drooling, lol.

Jackie

Before this thread slips off the Fodor opening page yet remains accessible forevermore in cyberspace, just felt I should report on Oxley Travel’s explanation of the increase in their September Special package deal (from $961 to $1,219 pp).

We had suggested 13 Sept as our preferred travel date. As this was ‘booked out’ they took the previous day, 12 Sept as the basis for their quote – but omitted to explain that 12 September was not included in their package rate.

After I whizzed off a rather irate email at the unexplained price increase (with a copy to the LHI Tourism Association), they responded with the rather vital info that 3 different weeks (2-9, 6-13 and 8-15 Sept) were STILL available on the September special @ $961 and that the increase in price for our quote was due to airfares.

Oxley Travel have expressed regret .... “I didn’t explain it to you very well and for that I apologise” but it still serves to indicate that organising any online travel should cause the “buyer beware” receiver antenna to quiver!

So fortunate that we do have the other side of the coin on internet ‘bait and switch’ cons – consumer forums such as Fodors And legions of travellers willing both to advise and give detailed reports for the benefit of others. Yay!

We planned our trip to LH booking in at the Blue Lagoon. We booked our airfare thru Qantas from Sydney. Blue Lagoon was fine, basic room but clean w/small kitchenette and a nice deck with lovely gardens. Short walk to lagoon and Ned's beach. If memory serves the room rate was fairly reasonable for the location. The biggest expense on LH is food! Capella has a great restaurant with great views. Our Aussie friends advised us to pack a few staples in the bag if we had room and it turned out to be good advice. Good luck for next year.

Our dream destination of Lord Howe Island has been retrieved from under the pillows, dusted off, revitalised and will become reality in April/May this year!

We had SAS Eurobonus points that would have disappeared if not used by 1 Nov 06, so we trawled the FF flights until at last we found an 8 day return possibility – even so, it’s leaving for LHI from Brisbane and arriving back in Oz in Sydney, but as we needed further domestic connecting flights anyway, this didn’t pose any difficulties for us. Lucky for us that SAS and Qantas have reciprocal agreement for using Frequent Flyer/Bonus points, and all four flights added up almost exactly to the FF points that were forfeit if not used by 1 Nov! (All taxes still apply, however, and amounted to approx $250 each, part of which is an Environmental tax imposed by LHI.)

I thought I’d leave the accommodation booking until after the New Year, as many do change their rates from Jan 1 and sometimes booking staff get in a muddle if they have to switch over to the following year’s calendar, and as our stay was four months away in low-season late April, thought we’d have the pick of vacancies. Wrong!

Started emailing the twelve ‘moderate’ hotel accommodations on 2nd Jan. There are only seventeen tourist accommodation venues, most of them family-run, on the island, so it’s fairly easy to check them all out – we eliminated the top-o-the range ‘resorts’ as way too expensive, as this World Heritage Listed (1982) island’s amazing natural wonders are the main attraction and all of them free - unless it involves boat trips/guided tours, etc. – and best viewed on foot or on a bike (very few cars on the island, which has just 15kms of roads in the northern half only – the island, part of New South Wales, is just some 12kms long and 2kms wide and is restricted to a limit of 400 tourists at any one time.

Well, most of them were already booked out for end April/early May! It looked like we’d have to split up our accommodation at two or three different venues, until we managed to snag a self-contained, one-bedroom apartment at Lorhiti, set in luscious tropical gardens, two minutes stroll from the famous Ned’s Beach with its amazing hand-feeding of thousands of fish daily – not little tiddlers either, some of those beauties are huge! Lucky for us, Lorhiti’s rates decreased from hi-season $370 p.n.p.double to its autumn/winter rate of $150 from the date of our arrival, so we were grinning from ear to ear. http://www.lorhiti.com

So excited – it’s been our dream island destination for soooo many years, and in the meantime we’ve had to substitute various other islands including Hawai’i, Fiji, Santorini, Hong Kong, Vancouver Is, Bali, Tasmania, Mauritius, Singapore, Scotland Is in Sydney’s Pittwater (an isolated slice of heaven 50 mins from Sydney’s CBD!), and now finally, finally it’s a kiss away from reality!

Now following Travellin's advice (many thanks) and starting a list of essential 'staples' to take with us, headed by a 1kg brick of our favourite coffee (Harris Espresso Nr.5)and our travel plunger, keeping in mind the 14kg baggage limit and the weight of redwine sundowners, candles 'n tealights.

Jackie

Should perhaps add here most of the accommodation venues are relatively small (Lorhiti caters for just 12 guests), some are for adults only and others restricted to children over 10 only (Lorhiti included).

Most of the eight restaurants are at the various lodgings, the Bowling Club or the Golf Club, although some are only open a few days a week. Loved the Golf Club’s offering “a casual meal is served most Friday nights after the Chicken Run” . There are a couple of cafes and three shops selling basic food supplies.

There is absolutely no night life - no pubs, clubs or discos. Just tranquil bliss complemented by the sounds of nature. And my husband’s snoring.

Jackie

topping for Peteralan

In the meantime, there was a wonderful documentary on the ABC on New Year's Eve called <i>Lord Howe Island - Pacific Eden</i> about the unique bird, marine and plant life on the Island, featuring self-taught biologist Ian Hutton.

We taped it and have already watched it four times it's so amazing!

Jackie

Thanks Jackie. Yes Ian takes lots of groups to such places as New Guinea etc all to study nature . I did see that doco on Ian in LHI.

Glad you all are getting out to LHI. I'm looking forward to hearing about your fab vacations

cheers

AndrewDavid

Yes Andrew I will certainly give some feedback once I have been. I believe you are on Victoria in Vancouver Island ? I went there some years back and what a lovely part of the world that is !