Lord Howe Islanders work together to offset rising cost of living in paradise
It's like Christmas every time the Island Trader supply ship docks at Lord Howe Island.
Beer, groceries, toys, furniture, building materials, small cars and fuel all arrive aboard the vessel as it makes its bi-monthly, 40-hour crossing from Port Macquarie.
The smaller parcels coming off the boat are piled up at the local post office ready to be collected by eager recipients.
Children earn pocket money by helping out at the post office unloading freight when the Island Trader docks. (ABC News: Hannah Ross)
Adding to the festive vibe, children are allowed to help unpack the crates in return for some lollies and a bit of pocket money.
And, just like Christmas, the delivery of goods via the island's maritime lifeline leaves residents feeling like they have sizeable holes in their pockets.
The ship carries up to 350 cubic metres of cargo each trip, around half of which is consumables including bulk goods, frozen goods and alcoholic drinks.
The Island Trader brings produce to Lord Howe Island every fortnight. (ABC News: Emma Siossian)
Business operators and residents on the remote island, 600 kilometres off Port Macquarie, say freight adds anywhere between 30 and 50 per cent to the cost of living.
Lord Howe Island sits 600km off the Australian coast in the Tasman Sea. (ABC News: Sharon Gordon)
Most of the island's 400 residents buy two weeks' worth of groceries online from supermarkets on the mainland, and then pay freight costs to have them delivered.
With freight quoted at $700 per cubic metre, residents say it costs about $150 to deliver $400 worth of groceries.
Meanwhile, on the island, a 150-gram jar of coffee costs $17, while a kilo of rice costs $9, but store owners say they try to keep the price of essentials like bread and milk as low as possible.
Keeping costs down
"You have to be very diverse in the way you approach things," said tour operator Anthony Riddle, who also owns the local gin distillery.
"You have to be resourceful, like go out fishing yourself, and think in advance to order bulk goods."
Yolante Eeles and Tim Cruickshank say they try to keep their prices down despite the added costs of freight. (ABC News: Emma Siossian)
Yolante Eeles and Tim Cruickshank have been living on the island for seven years, raising a family and running one of the local restaurants, The Crooked Post.
They said it was tricky to keep prices down.
"People work pretty hard to keep the costs in line with at least the mainland costs," Mr Cruickshank said.
The local restaurants also have to contend with limited food supplies when the tides don't get high enough to allow the Island Trader safe passage through the keyhole in the barrier reef.
Rodney Swain works at Joy's Shop, one of the island's three general stores (ABC News: Hannah Ross)
"It happens all the time," Mr Cruickshank said.
"Like, we don't normally do burgers for lunch but [today] it was all we could produce because we are waiting for stuff to come off the ship. You just have to be flexible."
Factoring in freight costs
Groceries, fuel, cars and building supplies are among items transported to the island aboard the Islander Trader. (ABC News: Emma Siossian)
The Island Trader's master, Christian de Haas, said the ship often had to delay docking or push its schedule forward or back by up to a week to meet the spring tides, factoring in low-water anomalies known as negative residual tides.
"I sense frustration on the part of the locals sometimes but I think most people understand why these things happen," Mr de Haas said.
Christian de Haas says his vessel's timetable is at the mercy of local tide fluctuations. (ABC News: Hannah Ross)
"The locals, they're islanders, so they know there are pros and cons to living on an island."
Mother-of-three Rachael Mcfadyen said the rising cost of essentials including freight, fuel and electricity was hurting island families.
Rachael Mcfadyen, (centre) with her family. (Supplied: Rachael Mcfadyen)
Ms Mcfadyen said freight added $150 to a 45-kilogram residential gas cylinder, unleaded petrol was now about $4 a litre and her power bill was sitting at $1,200 a quarter.
She said she would like to see government subsidies for freight costs.
"It is paradise living here but we want to be able to have fair and equitable access to goods and services," Ms Mcfadyen said.
"We accept it to a certain degree, but the cost of living is just exorbitant compared to the mainland."
Residents pay a high price for the pleasure of living in paradise. (ABC News)
The Lord Howe Island Board said the NSW government had recently funded an upgrade to the marine freight service to the island, which included a long-term subsidy to ensure freight costs were as low as possible.
Rahni Owens' family runs a guest house and one of the three small general stores that service the island's permanent residents, as well as the tourist population, which is capped at 400 at any one time.
Ms Owens said freight costs between the two businesses were about $150,000 a year.
Diamonds Store co-owner Rahni Owens says the business spent $150,000 on freight costs last year. (ABC News: Emma Siossian)
She said the shop generally charged cost price for staples like milk and bread and picked up the profits on non-essentials like alcohol.
"So that is the biggest challenge, trying to keep things fresh and the cost of it down so it is still achievable for people to buy," she said.
Big on bartering
Ms Owens said all of this made islanders extremely mindful of food waste.
Fresh eggs are locally sourced and very little food is wasted. (ABC News)
Anything on the turn in the shop gets taken home and turned into jams and chutneys and pre-prepared meals.
Ms Owens said she was also "big on barter", trading fish and other homegrown produce for cash or shop credit.
"If we can use what is here, that saves us on freight," she said.
"It supports everybody, it's a good community like that, everybody helps each other out."
Jack Shick offsets his grocery bill by growing his own food and bartering with others in the small community. (ABC News: Hannah Ross)
Jack Shick's family has lived on a property at the base of Mount Gower for five generations, and it is widely regarded as having one of the best vegetable gardens on the island.
"Most nights our dinner plate would consist of maybe 70 per cent that I've grown or caught myself from the garden and the sea," Mr Shick said.
"It's a pretty good feeling when you've got your whole plate that you've produced yourself."
Residents make the most of the island's bounty to supplement their food supplies. (ABC News: Emma Siossian)
He said most locals grew and bartered produce to help keep costs down.
"I've been swapping tomatoes for some nicely baked sourdough, so that's pretty good going."