These walls are becoming all too familiar. I'm lucky, I can get out for a walk or a bike ride from time-to-time, but I keep dreaming of all the places I really want to go. Take Norfolk Island for example. I was lucky enough to be sent there for Australian Geographic Outdoor a few years back. This was back when magazines had budgets, we had a week to research a story and just before Norfolk Island lost its autonomy – it had the rug pulled out from beneath it by the Australian Government a few years later.
There's about 1750 people live on the 35km2 island including a handful of surfers, a heap of fishos and the world's most concentrated population of whale bird egg thieves (seriously, they're a delicacy). It's a big rock with about 20 different waves on it and some jaw-droppingly beautiful coastline. We had a week, but needed at least twice that to properly explore the place and score waves on every corner.
Norfolk Island shut its borders and declared a state of emergency on March 19. They have no known coronavirus cases, but felt vulnerable way out there in the South Pacific, so took the drastic action, effectively cutting off cruise ships and the tourism lifeblood that has long kept its edgy, rebellious heart pumping.
While it's economy will suffer over this period, I have to feel a pang of envy for the fact that their entire bubble is Covid-19 free and all they can do is surf, ride the mountain bike trails, dive, snorkel, fish and kayak. It would have to be a pretty good option for a few weeks of lockdown. I just hope they have enough beer ...
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS If you're looking for some surf-inspired distraction from your own walls then legendary artist and longboarder Daryn McBride has made a series of his colouring-in artworks available for free download. More details right here.
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