Ball's Pyramid

This triangle of basalt rock juts 550 metres out of the sea. Situated 23 km south of Lord Howe Island, Ball's Pyramid is the world's tallest sea stack and one of a series of volcanic pinnacles formed from a massive eruption millions of years ago. Windswept and inhospitable, Ball's Pyramid was first climbed by mountaineers in 1965. Today, such activity is off-limits and viewing is by cruise boat only. Its surrounding waters are popular diving and fishing spots, and hundreds of sea birds circles its summit. In 2001, it hit the headlines when biologists found several Lord Howe Island Stick Insects on the pyramid, a species that had not been sighted on the main island for 80 years. Biologists were amazed at how a flightless insect had managed to make its way 23 km across the ocean. The pyramid was named after Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball, who first sighted it in February 1788.