I visited Lord Howe Island in July 2016, when I stayed at Beachcomber Lodge and rented a car from Wilson's Hire Service. My main objective was to see the Lord Howe Island stick insects that are kept at the Lord Howe Island Museum. The stick insects were once very common on Lord Howe Island, but became extinct on the main island soon after black rats were introduced in 1918 when a supply ship ran aground. The last walking stick was observed on Lord Howe Island in 1920, after which time the species was thought to be extinct. In 2001, Australian scientists scaled nearby Ball's Pyramid and discovered a small population of 24 walking sticks living beneath a shrub. In 2003, scientists collected two breeding pairs, and the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens has since successfully bred walking sticks (more than 9,000 according to the most recent estimate in 2012). Breeding pairs have since been sent to zoos at San Diego, Toronto and Bristol. I also spent time searching for Lord Howe woodhen, which are now relatively abundant but which had declined to 30 known birds by the late 1970s.