More adventures with Juliett took place today. It's my final full day on my latest adventure on "the Rock" as many locals call it. Norfolk is so dependent on the ship that things can be out of stock for weeks at a time. I've never seen the shelves of Foodlands so empty:
It's a bit of an irony that I took a photo of the veggie section since vegetables are grown on island rather than being shipped in. At least they have zucchini! In one instance, the ship had to sail all the way back to NZ without unloading due to part of the crane being broken. Charles explained the other day how shortages don't affect the majority of locals since they've spent generations getting creative with what's available. Norfolk cuisine is top-notch!
Duncan's daughter would pick me up hitchhiking where I'd get the info for the final cache to find on the Bounteous Isle. Every mystery cache on Norfolk has a different theme, and this particular cache involved a set of numbers called a "geohash." A geohash is a unique identifier of a place using an alphanumeric string. Duncan helped me out with the rest and with 55 finds, I'm Norfolk Island's top cache finder. From there I soared Juliett over the ship off of Cascade Pier. I would have preferred to fly her over Kingston but the swells have been horrible. It also meant I had two chances on this trip to go to Phillip Island: Buckley's and none. Juliett allowed me to get some very unique vantage points:
On my second trip to Norfolk I saw the ship unload. Though there isn't a car in this photo, I had a better angle of how they ferry vehicles into shore.
I recharged her batteries and made a B-line for Kingston. Without fear I soared her into sky, bound for Nepean Island. The waters are extremely rough between Norfolk and Nepean and landings are notoriously difficult on the latter. This is probably my best chance to see Nepean up close. Juliett is more than a kilometer away at this point:
Due to Nepean Island being a bird sanctuary, I didn't want to fly Juliett too low. Some birds will attack drones or even try to mate with them! This shows how far away I am. I'm standing near Lone Pine and Juliett is far out.
I then took Juliett above the turquoise waters of Emily Bay and Slaughter Bay.
It's been another fantastic time here on Norfolk. I feel I could do much better with my photos. After going to Pitcairn Island in October, I'm plannning trip #7 to Norfolk. Charles, his family, and I were supposed to be flightmates morla (tomorrow) but due to a change in plans they rebooked for today for their India adventure.
Like always on Norfolk I had a bounty of stories to share after another long day. I've now found every geocache on Norfolk and Juliett has had her workout. After a couple glasses of wine at the bowling club I cooked up a light tea of kangaroo steak and sauteed zucchini. If only I could stay on Norfolk Island forever...
