Chapter 19: Norfolk Island

FRANK WAS SITTING in the Qantas Club in the international terminal at Sydney airport, when he heard his name paged. He quickly stood up and walked to the front desk and there was the tall, athletic and beautiful Sandy, dressed sensibly for travelling, but still looking good.

He greeted her with a gentle kiss, showed his membership card to the receptionist and then led her to his table. She accepted his offer of coffee and once she had drunk it they both got up and selected a few things from the buffet. She hadn't had breakfast, as he had told her that there would be plenty to eat here and that enabled her to get at least an extra ten minutes sleep.

Even though Frank had been forced into quite an early start, much earlier than her, it was still too early for her she told him, smiling at him and looking forward to her first overseas holiday, despite the fact that technically it was still part of Australia.

They were both glad they were sitting in the comfortable surroundings of the club, because their flight was three hours late leaving. Frank felt sorry for the 'great unwashed' as he referred to all those normal people who didn't have the advantage of being a member of one of the airline clubs. They had no option but to sit around the airport just waiting. Apparently delays were a fairly common occurrence for this flight, because of fog in Norfolk Island.

Frank decided that, despite the relatively early hour, mid morning, they should enjoy a glass of bubbly while they waited, to get them in a good holiday mood. Sandy was not only excited by the trip, but also from the atmosphere in the lounge. Certainly drinking bubbly at this hour was definitely another first.

Eventually their plane took off for the two and a half hour flight, but they had to adjust their watches, putting them forward an hour and a half because of the time difference.

Sandy enjoyed sitting there, holding his hand several times during the flight, especially during take off and landing. They didn't talk a lot, Frank always liked reading on longer flights and Sandy thought she would use the opportunity to do a bit of study.

They were met at Norfolk Island airport by the owner of the cottage and she drove them to the cottage, which was just as well, seeing how much thewy had enjoyed drinking by that stage. The lady showed them how everything worked, ensuring they knew how to contact her. After they had filled out the papers for the car insurance, she told them to ring if they had any problems and then left them to enjoy their stay.

After unpacking, Frank suggested going out for dinner because it was too late to shop for food. The information in the cottage's brochures showed there was a restaurant a few hundred yards up the road, so Frank rang and was able to get a booking. He didn't want to drive anywhere as he had already had a number of drinks during the day.

Frank and Sandy held hands as they walked along the road to the restaurant where they enjoyed a simple one course meal, as neither was very hungry after nibbling all day. They shared a bottle of white wine, not even finishing it, before they left and walked back to the cottage.

As soon as she was inside the cottage, Sandy went and had a shower, came out naked and told him she was going to bed. He quickly showered and then joined her, realising that it was over five weeks since he made love to her properly. He remembered that he had used his two condoms and still hadn't got around to replacing them. Not that he needed them now, because he knew that he was about to experience making love to her without having to use a condom.

On the plane he had shown her the results of his blood test, which he had got only yesterday. He realised he wasn't being totally honest with her as he had made love to Beth since his blood test was taken, but was pretty confident that nothing had changed, because Beth had shown him the results of her blood test showing that she was all clear.

As he got into bed with Sandy, she came straight into his arms, telling him how much she had been looking forward to tonight. She was certainly eager and very ready for him.

Frank didn't spend a lot of time in foreplay, just making sure that she was well and truly arouse, ready to take him inside her, but he did ensure that their lovemaking lasted as long as possible and he was pleased that she enjoyed an orgasm before he reached his climax.

He lay on top of her for several minutes, getting his breath back and telling her how good it had been, exchanging gentle kisses, before rolling over, so that he could lie behind her and cuddle into her back.

It had been a long and tiring day for them, so it didn't take long before both were sound asleep.

Fortunately the cottage owner had provisioned the kitchen with enough supplies for their breakfast, including bread, cereal, home made jam, butter, milk, fruit, tea and coffee. But once they had eaten, Frank suggested shopping should be their first priority.

He drove Sandy in the little car down to the supermarket, which was less than two kilometres away, driving slowly as the speed limit in the small township of Burnt Pine was only 40 kilometres per hour. Not that one could speed outside the township as the maximum anywhere on the island was only 50 kilometres an hour.

His first stop was to the Visitors Information Centre to get the latest map and book a couple of tours. He also paid their departure tax, getting their tickets stamped, so they wouldn't have to worry about it later. While there, Frank bought some island grown coffee so that he could use the plunger that was provided in the cottage.

Norfolk Island, they read in the brochure, was a penal colony for the British colony of New South Wales during the periods 1788–1814 and 1825–1855. In 1856 it was settled by former inhabitants of the second largest of the Pitcairn Islands. The Pitcairn Islanders were descendants of Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutineers, together with Tahitian women. Pitcairn Island was unable to support 200 inhabitants, and Queen Victoria offered them Norfolk Island.

Permanent residents of Norfolk Island are still almost entirely descendants of these Pitcairn Islanders; other Australian citizens cannot move to Norfolk Island freely. The permanent population of the island is about 2,000 people, and there are nearly that many again of temporary workers. Tourists can boost the total population of the island to as many as 6,000.

Then it was off to the supermarket for their shopping, buying essential supplies so that they could make their own breakfast and lunch as well as cook a few dinners.

Next stop was the Bond Store to get some red and white wine plus a good bottle of Scotch, the latter being duty free. Then it was back to their cottage to put their purchases away and have lunch.

When they were finished eating, Frank drove around to the Cascade Reserve. They went for a short walk to the waterfall, before driving along to the Pier. Their brochure told them that ships couldn't land here, so supplies, even cars and buses, were offloaded onto lighters that could put ashore at this pier.

It was nearly 3pm when Frank took them to Norfolk Island Liqueurs, which made their own liqueurs. They were able to taste the range, although elected to only try six or no one would have been able to drive. Sandy chose a sweet fruity one to have after dinner back in their cottage each night, while Frank bought the Maconochie's Rum Liqueur, which was a special blend of rum liqueur with a gentle hint of coffee. The name was based on a Governor of the Island, who was an early advocate of humane prison conditions. In fact, the new prison in Canberra had been named after him also.

Their next stop was at Sweeties where they sampled a few home made chocolates and bought some to take back to their cottage so that they could have them with their liqueurs.

Then it was back through the township to their cottage.

After they had taken their purchases inside, Frank suggested that as it was only a bit after 3:45pm, they should go for a walk in the National Park and climb Mount Bates. It was a very physical walk, but the views were spectacular and well worth the effort.

Frank decided to cook some steaks they had purchased in the butcher shop just outside the supermarket. It was island beef and judging by the lush feed and the healthy state of all the cows on the island, he figured that the meat would be delicious and he wasn't wrong. They enjoyed a bottle of red wine that he had bought that morning with their steak, although Frank drank two glasses to her one.

Sandy made them a plunger of coffee with the locally grown and roasted coffee and they had that with some chocolate and a small glass of liqueur each.

"This is really nice coffee" Sandy commented.

Over dinner and while they were having their coffee, Frank and Sandy discussed things they might do next year. He still hadn't got the suggested itinerary from the travel agent, so they just discussed the places that each of them wanted to go.

Sandy was starting to feel, especially as she was here with him on this holiday, that he was going to choose her, which made her feel even more comfortable.

At 10pm, Frank suggested bed and soon Sandy was laying in his arms as he kissed her all over and then made love to her. Sandy wrapped her arms and legs around him and held him tight as he thrust into her again and again and then was soon exploding inside her.

In the morning, after the breakfast dishes had been done, Frank drove them down to Kingston, where they spent the morning wandering around the convict ruins, went into a couple of museums, drove past Government House and around to the lone pine at the end of Emily Bay. Both agreed it was just a bit too cool to bother swimming in the protected waters of the bay.

After lunch Sandy said she should do some study for a couple of hours, so Frank happily lazed out on the back veranda, reading his book, but every now and then looking up and out to the glorious views across the valley to where he could just catch glimpses of the ocean beyond the trees on the next ridge.

The yard around the cottage was surprisingly large and very well maintained, with lush, well mown lawns, several garden beds with lots of flowers in bloom and quite a few variegated shrubs and trees. It was very relaxing just looking at the colour in the garden.

When Sandy said she'd done enough, he took her to see the Cyclorama, a 360 degree panoramic painting that told the story of the settlement of Norfolk Island. It was an amazing painting, stunning in its realistic artwork. They spent nearly an hour, wandering around the walkway, reading all the plaques and studying the scenes depicted. Then they walked back to the start so they could do it all again.

From there they went to catch the bus that took them on a progressive dinner held at four homes on the island. It was an interesting experience to see inside some islander homes and enjoy a meal at the same time.

It was just after 10pm when they got back to the cottage, showered and went to bed. This time Frank just cuddled her, kissed her and said goodnight, falling asleep cuddling her.

Frank had suggested that as soon as they had finished breakfast they should drive around the rest of the island and then do a walk along the rugged coastline. When he got them to the Captain Cook Monument, he parked the car and they set off on a beautiful, although reasonably challenging walk to Elephant Rock. On the way they saw the lovely waters on Green Pool Stone, went past Cathedral Rock and finally Bird Rock. It was extremely picturesque.

The walk back up from Elephant rock along Bird Rock Track was very steep and both were puffing by the time they turned right to complete the circle and head back along Bridle Track.

Both badly needed a drink of water and then had a shower to wash away the perspiration from their strenuous walk once they got back to the cottage.

When they were dressed and recovered, Frank took them out to Two Chimneys Winery where they tasted some locally made wine as well as wine bottled for them by Cassegrain at Port Macquarie in New South Wales. Then they sat on the veranda looking over the vineyard while enjoying a delicious, but light lunch with a glass of white wine.

After lunch Frank and Sandy spent an hour wandering through the shops in Burnt Pine. Many items were 30% and even 40% cheaper than on the mainland and there was no Goods and Services Tax, which made shopping a good proposition.

Frank bought Sandy some clothes that she liked, for which she said suggestively "I'll thank you properly later, Frank."

He looked forward to that, but when they were back in their cottage Sandy said she needed to do a bit more study before dinner.

However, at 4:30pm he told her it was time to go as he was taking her to see 'The Trial of the Fifteen', a play in the courtroom that enabled them to soak up more of Norfolk Island's history while at times shuddering and other time smiling at the performance.

After the show Frank took Sandy to dinner and was fortunate to get into one of the better restaurants on the island. Branka House Restaurant, a restored nineteenth-century homestead on Rocky Point Road near the airport, was supposed to be the island's best.

Frank didn't drink much during dinner, as he still had to drive home, not that anyone seemed to worry too much about breathalysers and the speed limit meant driving was fairly safe - just had to watch out for cows, which were allowed to roam freely on the side of the roads.

Once they were back in their cottage tucked up in bed, Frank asked "now where's that reward you promised me earlier?"

Sandy proceeded to kiss him, moving her kisses down his chest all the way to his groin before taking his penis into her mouth and sucking him. Frank pulled her over so that she was straddling his face and he could lick and finger her sex, but as he moved his finger to tease her anus, she quickly restrained him from touching her there. Frank was a little surprised and more than a little disappointed, but let it go, continuing his ministrations to her vagina and clitoris while she sucked him

When she started to feel him thrusting into her mouth, she withdrew her mouth from him, turned around and sat on him, guiding his penis straight into her aroused vagina. Up and down she bounced as he reached up and fondled those glorious breasts and tweaked her nipples.

She kept her movements going much longer than Frank thought she could until he remembered how fit she was from dancing. Soon he was thrusting up into her, lifting his hips until he could feel he was about ready to explode inside her. Fortunately she finally reached a climax herself just before he did.

Sandy lay down on top of him, pressing her breasts into his chest as he cuddled her and kissed her gently on the mouth, before rolling her over and cuddling her to sleep.

As they lay in bed cuddling, having both woken up around the same time, Sandy asked him what was on the agenda today. He suggested another walk in the morning, and then touring the rest of the more than 170 kilometres of roads. Sandy asked if he minded doing the walk by himself as she preferred to do a couple of hours study.