Carefree and idyllic, Norfolk Island is the perfect place for a childhood that is rarely found elsewhere in the world today. Written about my daughters Libby and Annie’s experiences growing up, and illustrated by Annie, they spent some of their formative years on Norfolk Island living an enviable, unique, carefree life that is rarely found today.

A tongue-in-cheek look at sharing the household chores down gender lines: Our household chores are unashamedly gender specific. He does his thing, I do mine. That’s the way we roll and it means we are both in our respective happy place. No dramas, no arguments.

On Norfolk Island, the bullet-proof among us have demonstrated a cavalier attitude to a simple request to step up and self-isolate during this coronavirus, covid-19, pandemic. Even with non-stop media explaining the nuances of herd immunity, and banging on about self-isolation, social distancing and cough etiquette, sadly some still choose not to ‘get it’. It is more important that they can party, see their mates, and maintain ‘business as usual’.

We have a robust and healthy population of sparrows on Norfolk Island, not living in the woodland areas of our national park, but right next to us, dwelling comfortably near our homes. Around the world, people have become alarmed about the decline in the sparrow populations . World Sparrow Day highlights the sparrows’ decreasing numbers and the state of our urban environments.

Norfolk Island has a freight conundrum: There’s no infrastructure onshore to cope with shipping containers – and increasingly the world’s cargo is containerised. The island is still serviced by small non-containerised ships, which in themselves, are a dying breed. Meanwhile, food is running low, and the islanders are desperate for a solution.

So dry, rumours swirling, everyone anxious. Some islanders sucking nothing but air from their tanks. Water carters unable to keep up with demand; more and more residents succumbing to their nemesis – the drought. We were scraping the bottom – the bores running dry.

There’s no better way to pass a few hours on Norfolk Island than by visiting some of our local galleries. Here are a few that will keep you browsing happily.