RAKIURA STEWART ISLAND - PART ONE

 

S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.


Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question ...

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit.

          The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - T.S. Eliot

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Ready?

Good, let's start.

As this series might be a bit long I've decided to break it up into themed sections for your ease of reading.

PART ONE - TRAVEL

We booked for this 8-day trip well before Christmas in order to secure the best possible flight deals from Air New Zealand before linking in with accommodation, rental car and access flights to the island. This seemed a good idea at the time but, as usual, I buggered things up by booking our flights Whangarei/Auckland and then separately Auckland/Invercargill and return. I should have known better because I did this last year when booking Wellington flights so when Air New Zealand, as they often do nowadays, cancelled a couple of flights it threw everything into chaos. I should have just booked Whangarei/Invercargill return so that when Air New Zealand cancel or change the timing of a flight IT'S THEIR BLOODY FAULT!. I spent a couple of hours on the phone sorting things out which cost a few hundred dollars extra. Bugger!

The Auckland/Invercargill flight was pleasant and the sky clear so we had great views of both islands on the way down especially the Southern Alps with Aoraki Mount Cook and the glaciers.

We arrived in Invercargill much earlier than originally planned as we had a 6.30 AM flight. This gave us from a midday arrival time to midday the next day before our flight to Stewart Island. We collected our rental car (for which I had already changed the rental times), checked in to our motel and headed out to explore Invercargill and environs. This took in Bluff and Riverton. I must say, Invercargill is a prosperous and tidy city. Everything is clean and functional with nice wide streets and abundant  parking.

Can you trust street signs in Bluff?

The motel was very good with separate lounge and bedroom, a spacious kitchen and large bathroom. Everything in Invercargill seems to be on the grand scale as they seem to have a lot of room down there.

There were two televisions. The one in the bedroom was the same size as the one we have in our lounge.

The one in the lounge was the biggest TV I've ever watched. We decided, after dinner, to each watch a film of our choice. I chose a Guy Ritchie film and The Old Girl some chick flick.

In a senior moment I picked up what I thought was the TV remote, tried it and told The Old Girl I couldn't get my TV to work. She looked at it and me and cracked up laughing. I was using the telephone which was next to the TV.

Robert would have been pleased as, like many motels and hotel rooms this one had a Gideon's bible.

I wonder what christians do when staying in B&Bs and Airbnb places which normally don't have bibles?

We flew to Stewart Island on a small (very small) plane - a Britten Norman Islander which takes 9 passengers. 

The Old Girl, who experiences travel sickness through an inner ear vertigo problem chose to sit up front with the pilot. I got stuck right at the back.

Richard definitely would not like to fly on this. It flies close to the turbulent Foveaux Strait water and gets buffeted badly bt the wind. On landing the cross winds meant that it came in sideways and quickly thumped down on the tarmac.

Needless to say 6 days later we flew back from Rakiura Stewart Island to Invercargill and The Old Girl nabbed the seat next to the pilot again. I managed to get one in the 'second row' this time but it was overcast and raining with no appreciable views. It was also very bumpy.

We stayed at the same motel (Homestead Villas) - great value at $135 a night for  a spacious and well appointed unit- and flew Invercargill/Auckland and then Auckland/Whangarei the next day.

Once gain the skies were clear and we had great views of the alps.

A treat on the Auckland/Whangarei flight was flying over the Waitemata harbour and getting a clear view of all of the different race courses of the Prada Cup (without the digital lines of course - we had to imagine those).

An even bigger treat though was seeing Team NZ Emirates yacht practising some manoeuvres and probably testing some innovations.

I had my phone  packed away so couldn't take a photo but watched it for some time racing along, followed by two 'chase' boats and doing sudden and sharp turns. Magic.

We arrived in Whangarei at 5PM and, after some shopping for provisions were home by 6.

Everything was safe and secure and our bay looked marvelous in the sun. We agreed that our trip away was a bit of a 'busman's holiday' as we have magnificent beaches, bays, birdlife, bush walks and interesting geological features at our doorstep.  It's nice to have a change though and the Rakiura Stewart Island experience was special.

More of that to follow soon.