Whilst on Norfolk Island (NI), we stayed in the township of Burnt Pine. Whilst it has a typically Australian small-town configuration in many ways, it also differs in several respects. Let's find out what I mean by those remarks.
This is Taylors Road next to the Aloha Apartments where we were staying. There's a huge number of such places on NI and especially at Burnt Pine, due to tourism being the island's main activity. I took this picture out of trading hours so the road was largely empty. In business hours the roads are crawling with cars.
I liked to see this kind of advertorial on the pavements, this one showing a map of the island.
Believe it or not, NI's small population of just 1,748 - as of the 2016 census - can support a purpose-built shopping mall with a supermarket and so on. Mind you, we should add in large number of tourists for much of the year given the island's sub-tropical location.
Towards the eastern end of the shopping centre I came across the green-roofed store with grandson Max's written in red on the green roof. He's just landed his first job with K Mart at age 16, but I was unaware of his owning a store on NI.
More views of shops on an early morning walk - again no traffic. The famous and beautiful Norfolk Pines are everywhere.
The shot below aroused my interest, but after several attempts I still couldn't find the tomb and must presume it's still in Egypt.
Sometimes, in the middle of the day, the shopping centre comes alive with heaps of vehicles vying for the angle parking slots like those show here.
Nearby this board shown below sets out residents' distress at having decision-making powers largely removed off-shore to Canberra. The adjacent park has hand symbols and names of all those locals seeking to have powers restored to NI residents.
More picturesque views of the town.
Now for some strange observations. Firstly, Burnt Pine is awash in cafes. This probably reflects the large visitor numbers with time on their hands and a desire to take breakfast and / or lunch out of their accommodation. Perhaps also, locals wish to meet up with each other. This option probably reflects the fact that few locals appear to live in suburban homes like they do in most towns and cities I know. It seemed to me, driving around the island, most people live on what we, on the mainland, call rural residential allotments (maybe up to 5 hectares in size) or larger hobby farms. The island is heavily dotted with these kinds of homes.
AS
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