RAKIURA STEWART ISLAND - PART FOUR

 I was underwhelmed by the response to this travel series except for one enthusiastic and generous contributor. Thanks Tim.

The others have been true to their nature. Robert started off well showing some interest but then 'ablated' into some witter about the bible. He then attempted to copy this series with a rather limp and geographically and grammatically challenged post about a tiny island in Wellington harbour. Maybe this is his new modernist thinking. Richard rejected modernism (his fashion sense is a dead giveaway for that) and chose minimalism to go with his mockery. He attempted to divert attention to some gig he's at this afternoon - probably at an old folks home or some other place where they strap the inmates guests down.

Anyway, I've decided to wrap the series up with this, the final post. PART FOUR - FLORA AND FAUNA.

FLORA

As I showed in the previous posts Rakiura Stewart Island has some great examples of pristine native bush, ferns, trees and plants. I guess the relative isolation has helped along with the difficulty of access to many of the main island's smaller islands. The bush on these by and large hasn't been burnt off and so there are great examples of large and very old native trees - rimu, totara, miro, rata etc.

Flora McKenzie

No, not her but she has an interesting history. See: FLORA MCKENZIE

.

The last one isn't strictly Stewart Island flora. It's a 'Christmas tree' sculpture on the deck of the Church Hill restaurant in Oban.

FAUNA

With many parts of Rakiura Stewart Island being a bird sanctuary with an aggressive predator eradication programme in place it's not surprising that the area is known for its abundant birdlife.

Here's a list of most of them:

RARE ENDEMIC only found at Ulva Island

South Island Saddleback (Tieke)
Yellowhead (Mohoua)

ENDEMIC present at Ulva Island & Stewart Island
Brown Creeper (Pipipi)
Stewart Island Weka
Tui
New Zealand Bellbird (Korimako, Makomako)
South Island Tomtit
New Zealand Fantail
South Island Kaka
New Zealand Pigeon (Kereru, Kukupa)
Morepork (Ruru)
Yellow-crowned Parakeet (Kakariki) 
South Island Rifleman (Titipounamu) 
Stewart Island Robin (Toutouwai) 
Stewart Island Brown Kiwi (Tokoeka) 
Red-crowned Parakeet (Kakariki)
Grey Warbler (Riroriro)

Seabirds
Yellow-eyed Penguin - ENDEMIC 
Fiordland Crested Penguin 
Little Blue Penguin 
New Zealand White-capped Albatross 
Salvin's Albatross 
Sooty Shearwater 
Brown Skua 
Cape Petrel 
Northern Giant Petrel 

We saw quite a few of these but alas, no kiwi. That wasn't a biggie though as we have kiwi in the bush around where we live and there are numerous kiwi release initiatives throughout the year. I've been fortunate to hold a kiwi once when I was involved in a conservation programme with one of the wine brands I marketed being a sponsor.

I took lots of photographs using my phone (my Canon digital camera was munted years ago by a dolphin) and will use some as screensavers. Here are some samples.

The NZ White Capped Albatross seen in the above pics followed our boat (destined for the kiwi adventure) mistaking us for a fishing boat. It was dusk and the sky was dramatic.

Weka

Stewart Island Robin

Mother S.I. Saddleback feeding her chick

Another Stewart Island Robin

Weka from a family of them that lived on the beach. They want you to lift up rocks for them so they can catch the sand crabs underneath.

Kereru

Kaka on our balcony

Another Kereru

That's all. Thank you for your time.

RAKIURA STEWART ISLAND - PART THREE

 ACTIVITIES

Stewart Island is a hilly little bugger so everywhere you go you have to be prepared to walk uphill, and then downhill at some point. The ups and downs can be quite steep so I took my walking stick hiking pole with me as well as a leg brace for my damaged left knee.

There are lots of walking tracks including the country's longest hiking trail - the North West circuit which is a 10-12 day, 125 km hike. 

It can be quite muddy.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to do this walk. We did however go for daily walks of several hours long, including a 4 hour walk around Ulva Island. We accessed this by ferry which was roughly (rougher on the way back) a half hour journey.

ULVA

Ulva is a bird sanctuary and is pristine and beautiful. The timber has never been milled so there are great examples of old Rimu, Miro, Rata and Totara in a dense bush setting.

We crisscrossed the end of the island where there were approved walking tracks which led to several beaches (golden sand, rocky, black sand, with sealions, without sealions, with weka, without weka), high points at the top of valleys, dense fern plantations full of birdlife, viewpoints and historical locations.

I've got lots of photos but these will give you the idea.

MIDNIGHT KIWI EXPEDITION

We went by boat to a remote island one night and in a guided walk group trekked through bush along the coastline to look for kiwi. This was at night so I was unable to take photographs (except for earlier on at dusk which I will publish under the heading FLORA and FAUNA). It was spectacularly creepy as the bush paths were in pitch darkness. We were issued with very low wattage torches that were to shine at your feet so as not to trip over obstacles. The guides had more powerful torches but these were infrared. When the guides thought that they heard something they stopped still and we all turned our torches off, standing in the dark. The guides would move away into the trees occasionally turning on their red lights. In the stillness the trees cracked and groaned as they rubbed against each other. It was like a scene out of the Blair Witch Project. BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

We didn't see any kiwi but the trip was worth it.

WATERCRESS WALK

The Watercress track was just behind the B&B we were staying in. It went from the crest of the hill above Golden Bay down to another bay. Here there were old boat sheds that apparently sell for upwards of $200,000 since no new ones can be built on the island.

 We walked through bush that had 800 year old Rimu  trees. Beautiful.

GOLF COURSE

Of course I couldn't resist going to play golf. Strange enough The Old Girl decided to stay at the B&B to read. This was a really nice place with views of the bays on two sides and  a huge garden leading down to bush (and the Watercress track).

We didn't have transport on the island so I set off walking to find the golf course. I walked for over an hour  down to Oban village and around Horseshoe Bay before trekking up a gravel road. This was bloody hard work and my knee was just about giving way on me. Here's an old fashioned selfie of me making my way:

On reaching the golf course an hour and a half after I set out I discovered that the 'clubhouse' was closed up (it's only a casual 6-hole course) and green fees could be paid by an honesty box system. That was OK as I am honest and I did have money in my pocket but ........ there was no facility to hire golf clubs. I discovered the next day that clubs could be hired from the visitor centre in town. This was of no use to me as, without transport I wasn't going to lug the bloody things up and down those steep gravel roads again.

The Old Girl is calling me to make a loaf of bread. I have to go.

Part Four will come later.

RAKIURA STEWART ISLAND - PART TWO

PART TWO

PREPARATION AND HYGIENE.

We were going away for 8 days so decided to each take our own suitcase (limited to 15KG weight due to the restrictions on the small plane to Rakiura Stewart Island). Normally we share a suitcase, a larger one which The Old Girl packs and keeps control of.

This time I packed mine and she packed hers.

There are no surprises here.

A depiction of my suitcase

A representation of The Old Girl's suitcase

Efforts to sneak in items of mine into her case were intercepted and ruthlessly dealt with. Ow!

With regards to hygiene I packed a toilet bag stock full of soap, shampoo (my needs are less than in days of yore), deodorant, Eau de Cologne, shaving gel, razor, sunscreen and insect repellant.

I packed two pairs of shorts, 6 Tee Shirts, one fancy shirt, 6 pairs of socks and 8 pairs of underpants (why are these in pairs?). Note that the underpants I took bear no relation to my favourites of years ago. see: HERE

The Old Girl, after seeing this post from July 2016 was so embarrassed she threw out all of my favourite and comfortable underwear and bought and made me go out and buy, lots of new items. I went out and bought new versions of my comfortable favourites with names like Jockey and Swanndri. She bought trendy brands like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and, get this, Elle Macpherson! What's that about?

Anyway, once all packed and underway, when in Invercargill, with time on our hands I declared that I was going to get a haircut. We drove around and discovered The Hair Mechanics.

The guy that cut my hair - the one with the hat at the top left of this photo - was a real ageing bogan. He played a great selection of 1960s American and British R&B (Stan Webb, Buddy Guy, Peter Green, Al Green - lots of them). I complimented him on his choice of music and we got on well. He asked if I want a full tune-up which I declined as we were short of time but I asked what was on offer. He went through a list which included ear waxing and nose waxing but I put a hand out to stop him there. I said I didn't want to know anymore.  He gave me a really good haircut (for me) which changed me from this:

To this:

I suspect though, that in a few weeks I'll go back to looking like this:

More later.