Patersons Inlet on Stewart Island
Day 342
Stewart Island, (And Ulva Island)
Invercargill, South Island, New Zealand
We drove out of the Holiday Park to Bluff, which is where the ferry took off to Stewart Island. We got there early because a few people at the park said we needed to book early to get on the ferry, which is always full.
We were really lucky! We got tickets over and back on the same day. All for $220 which we thought was a very high price. That's one thing we've really found here in NZ, all tourist activities are expensive!
But worth it.
We packed our jersey's and togs and hopped on the superduper ferry, that had superduper echosounders all the passengers could also see on a big screen....(I thought of Sam and the echo sounder he came to NZ especially to buy just before we left!~)
Stewart Island looked special in the brochures and we both really love going to different Islands. This one looked really special. We were told of the Maori analogy where North Island represented the people, South Island the canoe and Stewart Island, the third biggest Island in NZ was the anchor.
We had to go to the anchor! :-)
Before we left we booked a trip to Ulva Island, in the Patterson Inlet, which is a island that is a Marine Reserve and birdlife sanctury that had rare bird life inhabiting the island, just off Stewart Island that we wanted to see.
The ferry, "Stewart Island Experience" left at 9.30am. We were due back at 6.30pm.
We flew over at 24 to 25 knots and the view of the other islands was quite spectacular. A few people got seasick on the way over. In fact, Canopy Car Girl was on the same ferry for us and she was one of the poor souls that we saw turn green at the back of the boat. Aw. It was pretty rough though. And wet.
By the time we arrived the rain had cleared up and we were lucky to be able to have the whole day in sunshine. Seems when it rains it only does for a minute then stops. People were saying they had had weeks of beautiful rain free weather though. Which we were glad off!
Stewart Island, called Rakiura in Maori, is my dream island. I want to live there!! It's just GORGEOUS!!!
A few of the people on the boat hired cars and scooters but we decided to walk the island. It's about 27km's around...and we didn't get around it..but we did go to the Lookout and saw all around..so beautiful.
Acker’s house
We also walked up to Akers Point and Harold Bay which both have stories attached to their names. Akers was a guy who built a stone house for himself and his maori wife and 9 children but who was evicted because he failed to make a claim for the land when land claims came in, in the early 1800/s. Seemed sad. But i guess that's why the story made an impact.
At 1pm we took off to Ulva Island and once we were there we were led around the island by a guide who had so much knowledge about birds and the island itself. It was so interesting. We've really taken to learning about local birds and wildlife that's for sure. I think in my next life i want to be a botanist!!!!
Apparently the rats were erradicated from Stewart Is and Ulva Is in 2000 so we learnt all about how they did that..and about the effect of the rat's erradication as well. Some species of trees are surviving..and the animal life has changed as well. So interesting!
We left Ulva Island at 3.30pm to head back to Stewart Island (saw cormarents in caves on the way back!) and once back, about 4.30pm, we had another 3 hours to kill, so we went for another walk!
In all, we walked about 15km's around the island.
Thank goodness we were going back to our 'weird campsite' that night instead of having to set up a new 'home'!!!
"Canopy Car Girl" was back in the spot next to our tent as well......
We're getting to be quite a family!
haha!
The guy at reception was there when we arrived back as well....he said he knew we were there...and he was a friendly guy. He said he'd book a cruise in the morning, in Milford Sound tomorrow which was nice of him.
He also told us they had found red back spiders in Marlborough (The area around here) and people were not very impressed with Australians at the moment!! Ohh dear.
We met a few people in the kitchen when we were preparing our meal tonight..a couple of Israelies and a few of the 'locals'. Kiwi's really are very friendly people.
