Stewart Island

Thursday April 13

It was time for that third island. The one below the South Island. The one not many go to, even from New Zealand. The one with the name Stewart Island. We got picked up by a transfer bus from our hotel, arrived at the ferry terminal, watched our luggage get lowered by a crane onto the boat and then we loaded on.

The driver mentioned it might get a little wavy. I was like “alright, that’s normal on a boat” but before I knew it, I was sitting surrounded on all sides by people vomiting into bags from seasickness. I was feeling pretty sick myself but incredibly I held out which was good because the random woman sitting next to me took her barf bag AND mine. It was a long long hour. My dad was smart to sit outside on the back of the boat. He got wet but he didn’t have the same nausea and nightmare situation my mom and I had.

Arriving at the dock in Stewart Island, a woman holding a sign with the name of our rental was waiting to pick us up. The place we rented came with a car but of course you drive on the left side in New Zealand! So after being nauseated surrounded by throw up, I was now driving on the left side of the road on an island about as far south as possible before Antarctica. What a wild morning!

Luckily, the roads don’t have much traffic and it was pretty much a straight shot to our cottage. Following the woman that picked us up made it easier as well.

After settling in a bit, we drove to “town” to buy groceries. Stewart Island has one grocery store a tier above a convenience store in offerings, a couple restaurants, and not a whole lot else commercial. A main attraction of the island is the national park and a three day tramp through it. The island is actually quite big but apparently if the island was your hand, the inhabited part would be your pinkie nail.

After a quick lunch, my dad and I went hiking from Golden Bay to Deep Bay. We heard so many fun bird sounds and enjoyed the beauty.

It was my job to try and pick up dinner back in town. The inn wasn’t doing takeaway so I went to a fish stand to get Blue Cod, the specialty here. The wait was long but I eventually got it!

We didn’t have very strong cell service and no wifi on the island so that meant no watching Educators. We did go look at the stars though. On such an unpopulated island, you sure can see a pretty sky!

Friday April 14

My dad and I rose early and repeated our hike from the day before but this time in the morning. We got more driving practice in and now my dad and I switch off driving! When we aren’t driving, we are constantly reminding the other person to stay left. The one thing I consistently do is turn on the windshield wipers when I want to turn lol.

It was a gorgeous walk with lots more birds to listen to. We returned to our cabin for breakfast and then we headed out as a family to the wharf to take a ferry to Ulva Island.

Ulva island is a smaller island nearby that is even more unpopulated (no shops at all) and has heaps of birds! When we saw that the boat we would ride there looked eerily similar to our boat from yesterday, we got pretty nervous. This time we sat outside on the bench and the whole experience was much better. We also were staying in the inlet which helped.

A woman named Claire was our guide and walked us around. She pointed out different trees and birds that we came across.

After the tour, we boated back. It’s funny how Stewart Island now feels like such a city after going to an island that is just nature! We went down to the water a bit and then my mom went to get takeaway and my dad and I did the quick walk to observation rock where we gazed at a stunning view! We met some nice people from Christchurch while we were up there and we had a bit of a chat.

We ate our blue cod dinner in our cabin and went out to look at the stars and look for Kiwibirds at night. We saw the stars but had no luck with the Kiwi. We also watched part of a British show “This time next year” which was playing on the television. There’s a movie about Stewart Island that they highly recommend you watch while here but we were too late to arrange any viewings at the movie theater (a local’s house) and the dvd player in the cabin didn’t work so we weren’t able to watch. Oh well, one day!

Saturday April 14

Our final day on Stewart Island had arrived. My dad and I arranged to go on a kayak tour led by a dude named Phil. It’s such a small town, his boat shed is labeled on the local map. There were two women going kayaking with us as well. Phil provided us with gear and a quick safety briefing before we headed out on the water. It was incredibly calm! I didn’t get wet at all during the whole experience!

Phil told us about the area, pointed out marine creatures, birds and locations. Midway through, sea lions popped up! There were about eight of them and they were swimming around, popping their heads out of the water and showing off. It was a clear highlight of the whole trip so far.

Phil said they were following us because they like to play, are a little bored and are curious about us. As we paddled, they swam alongside us. It was such a special treat and Phil said he had never seen so many sea lions at one time.

After kayaking, I picked up our lunches from the Snuggery cafe and drove back to our cottage. We ate outside on a picnic table and headed back into town.

My mom went to the grocery store and my dad and I were gonna play Bowls since there was a bowling field and he remembered the game from when he was a kid but the field was closed. Instead we returned to observation hill, looked at the beautiful landscapes and met some more lovely New Zealand travelers. It’s so cool how most of the people visiting Stewart island are from New Zealand.

And then it was time for the return ferry. We were nervous but the waves were much more tame this time. We also sat outside so the whole experience was much improved. And before we knew it, we were back in Invercargill. Our transfer bus was waiting for us and took us back to our hotel from a couple days before. We met a family on the bus that had done the three day tramp in Stewart Island. They were quite an adventurous bunch. My dad and I went to pick up dinner and then we all ate and watched Educators.

Meanwhile, my sister Elina arrived in Dunedin earlier that day from the US! We are gonna take the bus to Dunedin tomorrow and we will be reunited at last!