Stewart Island- Island of birds, ferns, seals, and views- and possibly pirates?

My adventures this break began with Stewart Island.


DAY 1-We head out to the island and begin the tramp! 

 We headed across the Fouveaux strait towards the island from the quaint little town of Bluff, which I am pretty sure is smaller than my hometown, Courtland, which has a population of 700 people.

Before I arrived at Stewart Island I learned that there are several Maori legends explaining how it got there. As we left the harbor of Bluff we saw a huge chain next to a building at the end of the harbor. This chain is supposed to symbolized a chain that connects mainland to Stewart island or as the Maori call it- Rakiura, whith translates to "The Land of the Glowing Skies." Stewart island anchors the south island which is Maui's canoe, from the canue Maui pulled up the great fish (the North Island).

After an hour of enjoyable sea spray we reached the lovely and smaller town of Oban, located in Halfmoon Bay (see map).

Stewart Island

I had no idea what we were going to see on the track as we set forth, I let my friend to the planning so everything that I saw was a surprise. We learned that the islands water supply is completely from rainwater, there are gigantic green water tanks everywhere, which implies that they must receive a lot of rain. The island is 85% nature reserve, and apparently the best place to see Kiwi in New Zealand, so we set forth with eagerness in hopes of spotting a Kiwi! We discovered that the island was going through a drought of sorts- 3 weeks without a hard rain! Which was good for use because that meant less mud. There are sections of track, through which the mud can be waist high. Fortunately we did not have to go through these bits.

From Oban we set out on the Rakiura track towards Half-Arm Hut. It was a nice leisurely walk, but I think either the atmosphere, or the island started to corrupt us as we began to speak in pirate, (I am still adjusting from it, and will occasionally break out into pirate, but somehow a Minnesotan pirate, because I will say, "Aye, donch-ya know me hearty?"  So I apologize in advance for all of the bad Pirate puns that are about to happen. And ya know what a pirate be hating? Sandflies! They be little buggers that look and bite like mosquitos. But nevertheless we trudged forward at a steady pace toward the destination- the North Arm Hut. As we walked on I saw things that I have never imagined were still alive- 20 foot ferns! I can now assure you that they are very real- and awesome. We also saw some trees that looked like they had recently been burnt in a fire- which seemed odd being that the trees next to it were fine and this was a nature reserve. When we arrived at that hut which had running water and a fireplace- a very nice establishment, we dropped out heavy tramping bags and went out to see how far we could make it to Freshwater hut, alas it was too late and we only made it about halfway before we had to head back but considering that it was a pretty good pace. That night we ate like- well trampers- rice risotto, which considering, is pretty good for tramping. After that, not having electricity to do any work by, we went out to listen to the birds and watch the water. Well we could hear the birds, the water, on the other hand was no where close as there was a full moon and the tides were particularly strong, meaning that they had fallen significantly. There were owls, and other birds, but sadly, no Kiwi that night. I would also strongly recommend just sitting outdoors in the wild and listening, you never know what you might here.

Giant Fern!

It was like Jurassic Park!

Does the shape of these trees remind anyone else of the Lorax?

There is a tank in the water!

The views along the path

View from North Arm hut

DAY 2- On towards Port William Hut 

The next day we set out for Port William, which me-thinks be a very piratey name. This path went straight through land, so unfortunately, no water. But this being a great walk and all, the path was very quick and only took about 4 hours or so. Along the path we passed the remains of the logging industry, it makes me wonder what the land must have looked like before it was logged. We arrived with good time at the hut and had lunch at the conveniently located dock, fortunately the tide was in so we could dangle our feet in the cool and soothing water (it eased the sandfly bites). And it being a nice day and all we took turns and jumped in- and out very quickly- it was quite cold. That afternoon we set off on a nice walk towards the Bungaroo hut, on the way we found a cool beach with a stream running through it, and nice rounded stones for my collection. After the hike we quickly set out to cook our dinner in order to watch the sun set into the ocean, unfortunately it set right right into a big bunch of hills and was rather unspectacular. But whatching the full moon rise was nice, especially because I could sit with me chocolate and listin to the waves. I have discovered that the moon does not rise in a straight line, rather it rises at an angle, so rather than go straight up it goes off a little to the left and then up, I suppose that mean in the northern hemisphere it would to off a little to the right and then up. Having found the perfect spot on the beach to watch the sun rise we went to bed eagerly so we could get up early and have breakfast (oats with peanut butter in them-try it) with the sunrise.

DAY 3- Our last day of Tramping and a visit to town


The sunrise surpassed all expectations, we were the only ones on our little stretch of beach. The colors of the pre-dawn clouds were breath-taking. The were colored with beautiful saturated blues and oranges, I did not dare look away as the colors shifted with the sun for fear that I would miss something. It was definitely one of the high-lights of the trip, which is a good think because at least sun-rises are free. On the way back we had a section on the beach which was absolutely strewn with beautiful shells,  I know have quite a few for my growing collection. We also passed a few trees with notches scratched in them- due to pirate castaways? we wondered. As we reached civilization- a paved road, a rainbow appeared out of some clouds and sunk right into Horseshoe bay, another nice perk. We soon arrived to town, and stopped to check out our room which appropriately was titled "Room with a view." It was downright cushy- beds with heated blanketed, a kichnette and bathroom! And it had a nice view of Halfmoon bay and was a 2 minute walk to bathing beach.


After handling some details we set out to have fish and chips- my first time! To be honest I thought they were ok, nothing spectacular, a bit greasy, on the plus side it may have been the world's southernmost fish and chips shop! But what really bothers me is that they charge for tomato paste! But as an american I need it, and swallowed my pride and got some.

Fern Trees!

We then set out towards Observation rock to whatch the sunset and also get good view Patterson Inlet and Ulva island, where we would go sea kayaking to tomorrow. We could also see the distance we had covered the first day on the island, to be honest it didn't seem like that much. It was a good chance to reflect on the past few days on the island, and wishfully think how grand it would be to get a sailboat and be able to sail from port to port. We soon grew cold after the sunset and headed down towards the shore to soak our legs in the cool water and let the cold erase the itches... and all other feeling in our lower limbs. They also had an awesome chess set near the shore made out of traffic cones, so we set up what appeared to be an epic battle of the wits. (I think I got a little too into it and making sure all the cones did legal moves.) After warming up in the room... with a view. We went down to the bathing beach to watch the stars. I think this may have been one of my favorite moments of the break, not because of the star-gazing but it was nice to have an opportunity to sit back and review my life and ponder my future and decide what kind of life I want to have. It's hard stress out about anything while sitting on a beach under such a peaceful sky, especially with the sound of the waves in the background.

the room with a view- my home for two days!

outside the fish and chips place 

Bathing beach

Halofmoon bay

Bathing beach cove

On getting back to the room I discovered something- hair + saltwater= moldable hair! It just stays put! Needless to say a little gross. After getting cleaned up we prepared to get up even earlier than that day in order to see the the sun rise in our sea kayaks!

Day 4: Kayaking and a great deal of flora and fauna!

This day was a cumulative day for the Stewart Island trip, things came together as it ended. We got up early, got the sea-kayaks ready (they have rudders!) and headed out, unfortunately we missed the sunrise, but it was still a beautiful morning. In one double canoe and one single canoe we headed across the waves towards Ulva island, it took a whils to get a hang of the boat and its balance but after 45minutes of vigourous paddling we soon arrived at Ulva island. We celebrated our arrival with slices of cheese, sausage, and wine-truly a classy brunch! And then we checked the time, it was only 8am! We set off across the island, which is a bird reserve (no rats) to see what we could see- which was a lot. During two hours we saw
-A leaf that was once used as legal mail tender

Tmesipteris

-The explanation for the black tree trunks on day one- it was due to a mold that forms on trees after a bug taps them for their honeydew.
-We did not find a rare puni it is a plant that looks like rhubarb - I wonder if it was just rhubarb?
-We discovered the source of the notches in the tree, it was a Kaka- a parrot that carves notches in with its beak!
-A plant that has fossils that have been found with dinosaurs- a Tmesipteris- it was 5 inches hi at its tallest height and is pretty cool.

-A Twisted Frond Caterpillar- its only purpose is to eat fern leaves- without hurting the plant- and then when it becomes a butterfly- to reproduce.

Hen and Chicken fern

-I think I may becoming a little botany crazed, but we also so a very cool Hen and Chicken fern- it grows little ferns on its leaves and drops them to the ground.

We also saw a few rare birds- Jon is crazy about them, I think I also might have caught the ornithology craze.
-A Stewart island robin- actually I think they were following us, they came very close, and there are only 200 or so of them on Ulva island.

-Tui, they have cool calls, but they are very common on the island 

New Zealand Parakeet

-kaka

-South Island Saddleback

-Oystercather- I love these birds, they have such cool beaks!

Bellbird

After finishing up on the island, and collecting a few geologic samples, we set out back towards shore the explore the intricacies of Patterson Inlet. On the way to the inlet an albatross decided to dive-bomb our boats- it was so cool!

Albatross!

SEAL!

We began to check out the inlets and pulled ashore for a quick lunch- quick because of the sandflies, and then set out to explore. As we paddled we somehow shifted back to pirate speak because we tried to stay in sheltered coves we said- "aye- we stick to the cove!" As we were heading for another inlet, I saw a round rock near a blocky outcrop get covered by a wave, then the water receded, it was gone, a second later I saw a head burst out of the water, it was a seal! (fur seal to be precise, approximately 2 meters in length). I called to my friend in the boat and we both looked on with awe and called the other kayaker to look at it. It must have heard us becasue it got high in the water, raised its head, opened its jaw and then dived towards us. Jon and I looked and said "row, row, row!" we did not want to mess with an angry seal. It popped up and dove around our boats at we began to paddle towards to neared shore. (Very ginger paddles, because we did not want to hit the seal). It dove in between and beneath the boats and jumped up entirely out of the water a few times- pretty cool, but still a little terrifying. He then got up and actually looked up in the eye, we noticed that he had tags so I guess he must have wanted fish, unfortunately we had none and hurriedly paddled towards the tiny shore which barely fit the boats, one of the party climbed a tree. When we reached shore I remembered that seals can go on land so we tried to keep the boat between it and us, it stayed for another 10 minutes and played with out boats and eventually headed off, at which point we let out a collective sigh of relief. It was the most terrifying and amazing experience.

A kiwi, rather unexciting isn't it?

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, we went in the shallows and watched the fish swim around, we also saw a kelp forest, both were lovely.



That night we went kiwi hunting at 10, apparently that is when they come out. We got a fare-way around the bay, but no such luck.



Day 5- Leaving the island.

The dock that we left the island from 

It was odd to leave the land that had been my home for four days and watch it shrink off into the distance. The water was a bit choppy on the way back, apparently there were 1.5 meter swells! But I quite enjoyed getting my last bit of salty sea spray. I would love to get back and see more of the beautiful land, but I think that will have to be another time if I ever come back to New Zealand. It was a great beginning for the the rest of my break. Next came the road trip!

One last view of halfmoon harbor

The island disappeared into the horzon

My Stewart island rock and shell collection.