Stewart Island

April 25 - 28

We left the town of Bluff and crossed the Foveaux Straight to Stewart Island (on a large Catamaran). We didn't know that the Foveaux Straight has a reputation as one of the roughest water crossings...many people get seasick. We were lucky and had good crossings each time, I only got a little sick.

Stewart Island is a small island with a population of about 2500 (most of which are tourists). Almost all of the people live in Oban, the town on Half Moon Bay. The island has very few predators, so it's one of the few places you can see a kiwi bird in the wild. We took a kiwi spotting tour the evening we arrived. The tour left at 6 pm and lasted about 3-4 hours. The best time to spot the kiwi birds are at night when they come out to feed. We saw 3 kiwi birds...they were a lot bigger than we expected - about the size of bowling balls. We got surprisingly close!! Any closer and we could have had a kiwi roast! Sorry I don't have any photos to show. The birds are very sensitive to noise and light...and they can move pretty quick when frightened.

We stayed at Jo & Andy's Bed and Breakfast. It was a very small house with comfortable rooms and a very good breakfast. However, the common area was very confined and both Jo and Andy are chain smokers...luckily, our room didn't smell like cigarettes.

Because it's winter, the stores and restaurants make up their own hours...whenever they feel like opening or closing is what it amounted to. We did several day hikes around the island ...rain or shine! We did one hike out to the lighthouse and saw the oldest house on Stewart Island (first European style house). Right along the path, blue penguines have their nests (we didn't see any penguins - too early in the day). We did catch a great sunset though! We also did some kayaking. It was incredibly quite and peaceful. The rain forests are packed with ferns. I got some interesting photos of some ferns just starting to branch.

We also went out to Ulva Island. There are NO predators on Ulva Island...so you can see all kinds of birds. Lon and I aren't that much into birds (except hummers), but we enjoyed seeing and hearing all the different birds. There was one species in particular that was pretty entertaining...the weka bird. The wekas are the size of chickens (kind of look like them too), and are totally unafraid of people. They'll come running up right up to you and check you out (better not have any food on you)!

What did we enjoy most about Stewart Island? I think Lon would agree...the night sky. We were pretty far south, so we were directly under the southern cross. Also, I have never seen the milky way so clearly before. I remember before we left San Diego, we could see Orion's Belt very clearly. In Fiji, we could still see Orion's Belt, but we could also see the southern cross. Now, I can't find Orion's Belt...and the southern cross and milky way are DIRECTLY above us!

region	lodging	$US / night	rating	notes
Stewart Island	Jo & Andy's B&B	$16.39		Comfy room, good breakfast, but too much smoke.