4am viewing

I woke up itching around 330am. Tried to go back to sleep and after that failed, I ended up watching something on YouTube that was new to me. Lord Howe Island, an isolated island with an abundance of wildlife and plants that can only be found there. Of course the more people visit, the more likely we will have a hand in destroying this paradise. 

The first reported sighting by Europeans of Lord Howe Island took place on 17 February 1788, when Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, commander of the Armed Tender HMS Supply, was en route from Botany Bay to found a penal settlement on Norfolk Island.[8] On the return journey, Ball sent a party ashore on Lord Howe Island to claim it as a British possession.[9] It subsequently became a provisioning port for the whaling industry,[10] and was permanently settled in June 1834. When whaling declined, the 1880s saw the beginning of the worldwide export of the endemic kentia palms, which remains a key component of the island's economy. The other continuing industry, tourism, began after World War II ended in 1945.  

UNESCO records the Lord Howe Island Group as a World Heritage Site of global natural significance. Most of the island is virtually untouched forest, with many of the plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Other natural attractions include the diversity of the landscapes, the variety of upper mantle and oceanic basalts, the world's southernmost barrier coral reef, nesting seabirds, and the rich historical and cultural heritage. 

The Lord Howe Island Act 1981 established a "Permanent Park Preserve" (covering about 70% of the island). The island was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 21 May 2007 and the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The surrounding waters are a protected region designated the Lord Howe Island Marine Park. 

A list of the unusual life found on Lord Howe Island. 

You can find them on Instagram.