Out of the Whitsundays’ seventy four islands, a mere eight are inhabited and the Northern most is Hayman Island, our third and final stop on our Whitsundays tour. Made famous recently by the devastation by two cyclones, the island had to be revamped, replanted, replenished and rebuffed. Enter the likes of Jamie Durie who was called in to tend to the gardens (and apparently he has expensive taste and required the buying up of thousands of exotic plants and clearing out exotic plant nurseries!). Reopened, slick and glowing at the beginning of August this year, we were curious to see what it was like.

We start our journey to Hayman by seaplane with Air Whitsundays where the seaplanes can go on both water and then land using their wheels. The flight to Hayman is only 10 minutes long as compared to 40 minutes by boat and we fly over water that turns from turquoise to the brightest blue passing other islands like South Molle and Hook island on the right.

And while I was mentally preparing to get on a dinghy the plane lands on the water with a small burst of foam before climbing up the ramp and depositing us dry and surprised on Hayman Island. Oh yes that deserved a round of applause and a happy dance

Our luggage gets whisked away (I just love it darlings when they deal with it for you) and we take the golf buggy ride to the main area where we check in. My first thought is that it the design and weather reminds me of one of those lovely resorts in Asia where they seem to strike the right atmosphere.

We have a pool room as this is the entry level of room so named because it faces the pool. The room is small, you can’t argue that, but it’s nicely furnished and I like the open plan bathroom and how the bath looks onto the bedroom which looks onto the pool. The design flows nicely.

I shower and dress for dinner in a nanosecond (I have to say that shower recess is small and you do end up wetting the floor outside) and we reconvene and walk to the bar where we have pre dinner champagne before being told of our special treat that evening. We are to dine at the Chef’s Table adjacent to the kitchen. Hayman Island is known for its food with a focus on fine dining eschewing resort style buffets that bloat with the best intentions. Here chef Glenn Bacon (yes with a name like that he really did have to become a chef) turns out exquisite portions in a kitchen that is apparently the second largest in the southern hemisphere, second only to Crown Casino.

We make our way to the kitchen via a small entrance clearly not made for guests. It feels a little bit hidden and exciting  and we walk through the Fontaine kitchen named after the hotel’s main restaurant. There are chandeliers sparkling in the distance and an enormous table is set up for us. We are dining in the area of the Grand Manger room and the butchery although Glenn points out that “not all butchers have a grand piano.”

The menu has a little description of the concept for the evening. It tells us that the chef’s table originated in Europe in the 18th century when chefs would serve patrons dishes not normally available on the menu. And on tonight’s menu there are some dishes that are only available through the chef’s table (including a sublime strawberry dessert, but I’m getting ahead of myself there!).

Chef Glenn Bacon

The chef’s table experience happens once a week and needs to be booked ahead of time but for more spur of the moment requests there is also the chef’s bench experience which is a fourteen course dinner that can accommodate two people.

Table setting that includes tweezers

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Mooo!

“One thing that I have to tell you is that cows have right of way here” Tania tells us when we arrive at Norfolk Island. Good to know, after all I understand that communicating with a cow and arguing the merits of road signs might be a fruitless task.

Anson Bay

Norfolk Island is an island about a two hour flight out of Sydney and is actually considered an international destination so you do need your passport to get there. Norfolk Island, along with Pitcairn Island, are both sites of the famous “Mutiny on the Bounty” where Fletcher Christian started a mutiny against Captain Bligh and set him adrift on a boat with some of his men.

The language is sort of like English! See quote above.

Currently with a population of 1,700 people, the island is a very unique one. For starters, there is currently no income tax (although this is set to change in the future) and it also currently has no welfare system so that everyone on the island has to work to afford to live there. Also apart from seeing cows on the side of the road (270 cows on the roads, 1,700 cattle total on the island but bulls are thankfully penned) you may also see geese and feral chickens. Residents of Norfolk Island are allowed to own up to ten cows per person and twice a year there is a cattle muster at various points around the island where they are drenched and vaccinated.

There are quirky touches where a street called Cascade road has houses named after their rooves for example “blue roof”, “can’t see the roof” and “rusty roof.” Feral chickens roam around strutting proudly, everyone waves at each other when they pass each other on the road and no-one needs to lock car or house doors. Roads have names like Robbers Lane, Puppies Point, Cats Lane and Grassy Road and phone numbers are a mere five digits long.

O.K. we probably need to address the elephant in the room, yes mature travellers love Norfolk Island. They come in couples or large groups and are often repeat visitors coming once a year. When the Sydney customs officer saw that I was headed there he remarked that I would be the youngest person there and when I had a look at my fellow passengers on the flight, he had a certain point. I was determined to find out whether a) there is much of a food scene b) whether there was something for younger people to do and c) why mature travellers love it so much!

Bronze whaler shark

We start with a half day orientation tour with Norfolk Touring which takes you around all of the key points and ends with morning tea at the Christian house (descendants of Fletcher Christian) and a stop at the wharf where we see fishermen taking in and filleting a large catch of grouper caught using rod and reel and a bronze whaler shark swims up to the water to munch on the discarded heads and bones. Two crabs perform a mesmerising waltz each pincer clutching a piece of fish while they eat at the meat.

Two crabs and a piece of fish

This is a common sight as many go fishing to stock their deep freeze. There aren’t professional fishermen here on the island, most residents are recreational fishermen and they simply go out in their boats, fill up several tub’s worth of fish and bring them back to the island to cook them. They keep the fish for when the weather and conditions aren’t right to go out to sea to fish. Our tour guide John Christian tells us that there simply aren’t a lot of good fishing days a year so they need to make the most of it while they can. There isn’t a limit on the amount of fish you can catch nor do you need a license. They can catch anything from cod, grouper, kingfish, trevally, snapper and what seems to be the most common Norfolk Island fish, the red throated emporer or trumpeter fish as they call it.

The old whale cooker that could cook a 35-40 foot whale

St Barnabas Church

St Barnabas Church is left unlocked 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for anyone to enter and the only rule is that you have to close the door. The pews are made out of Norfolk pine and NZ Kauri tree with incredible details like mother of pearl in lays.

So what is the food scene like here? Well tourism is the top industry which means that there are plenty of restaurants and accommodation and there are some gems within the area to be found. They do have to grow a lot of items here because importing items from Australia is expensive at a cost of $500 per cubic metre in or out. Because the produce is grown here, the food is very seasonal.

Norfolk Blue

Robyn Menghetti

“You know about paddock to plate? Here we do conception to plate” says Robyn Menghetti. Armed with a background in agriculture (but she notes, not livestock) and her husband a native Norfolk Islander they set about breeding Norfolk Blue cattle, an extremely hardy and tasty beef cattle found only on Norfolk Island. Thought to have originated from a “Blue Bull” called “Dr. Blue Suit” it inter bred over a hundred years with the British cattle breeds Hereford, Friesian, Red Devon, Murray Grey to produce a blue coloured cattle breed and Norfolk Island is the only place that you can taste this beef.

The restaurant was originally set up because Robyn and her husband wanted to showcase their beef as they found that it just wasn’t being displayed to its full advantage. The Norfolk Blue breed of cattle has a calm temperament and is extremely drought hardy. Robyn tells us that on Norfolk Island there were two severe droughts while they were farming cattle and within about 2 months their cows had bounced back while other breeds took as long as a year.

Now after five years of breeding and their first attempt at artificial insemination just today, they barely have enough beef to supply to the restaurant it is so popular. The atmosphere and service is very welcoming. We take a seat on the enclosed, sunny veranda and decide that having beef is the best way to go-after all why eat fish at a cattle farm (although you can, it is on the menu).

Asian beef salad $17

The Asian beef salad is fantastic and so generously portioned with ten (yes I counted ) big slices of juicy, grilled beef amongst pieces of lettuce, cucumber and tomato with a delicious sesame dressing drizzled on top of it. It sits in a deep fried cracker cup and the serving size is that of a main. I immediately start worrying about whether we will be able to fit in the mains.

Beef liver pate $16.50

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Whenever we go out for Chinese food I always feel compelled to take my parents along. For starters, I know that my dad needs to get out more but he only really likes Chinese food and for my mother who likes all food and likes to go out this is the path of least resistance.  Blue Eye Dragon was actually a long ago suggestion from one of my readers Rebecca, so long ago that when I looked up the date of her email to me it was about two years ago exactly. But I never forgot it!

The first thing that strikes us as we walk up to Blue Eye Dragon Taiwanese restaurant in Pyrmont is the wrought iron gates-shaped like a dragon. There is a spacious outdoor area and it is housed in a sandstone building.  The other thing that strikes us is that it looks so very different from your usual Chinese restaurant -it’s dark and moodily lit and there are no bright lights beaming the way to the table. We are shown our table, up on the stage above which is a curtained off area that the menu tells us serves as a private dining room. Despite the moody and romantic atmosphere there are plenty of families with babies and large groups dining.

Taiwanese High Mountain Tea (Chinese Tea) $2.5/pp (min. $5)

Mr NQN needs a bit of a pick me up and the Taiwanese High Mountain tea is ordered and comes with a tea light warmer powered stand which promptly goes out a few minutes after the teapot is placed on top of it. The tea…well it tastes like regular Chinese tea even if presented quite nicely and without a dripping tea pot.

Chicken Won-Tons with House Chilli Sauce (very spicy) $12

The won tons, eight to a serve here are slippery and filled with pork mince and are coated in a chilli sauce which is quite spicy and the dumplings are propped up in the bowl by shards of iceberg lettuce leaves. Overall they’re quite good and a nice kick start for our taste buds.

Pan Fried Pork Dumplings with Chives, Ginger & Shallot $12

The pan fried pork dumplings come out next and they have a nice crispy bottom. The skin on these is thinner than the Shanghai counterparts and the filling is a mixture of pork mince, chives, ginger and shallots giving these a good flavour to them along with a sesame chilli sauce.

Prawn Dumplings with Water Chestnuts, Shallots & Chinese Celery $12

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