Stewart Island is something else, and the weather changes
within seconds, from gloriously sunny to torrential downpour, this happened all
day, luckily we only got caught in a few
of the downpours. We first went to each of the tour companies we were due to
travel with today to check they are still going due to the bad weather
conditions and the gales.
At midday, we boarded the catamaran that we travelled on
over to Stewart Island, there were only 4 of us on the marine nature cruise. I
think the weather put quite a few people off, but oh they missed out. The
weather changes so quickly, we left in a downpour, and then it was glorious
sunshine. Although the swell was huge and we were bouncing around all over the
place, but it didn’t matter, we didn’ sit down for three hours.
The reason, we were surrounded by over 30 albatross! They
were flying so close to us, I could touch them! We saw 14 types of bird - Salvins
Mollymawk , Southern Royal albatross, Bullers Mollymawk, Sooty Shearwater, Yellow
eyed penguin, Seals, Blue penguin, Bullers shearwater, Southern cape pigeon, Fairy
prion. Seeing the albatross soar was something else. I had to stop filming,
stop taking pictures and just absorb what I was seeing. The albatross are
bigger than us, but the tip of their wings were soaring right by the side of
me. It was one of the best experiences ever, breathtaking!
We also saw the Sea Shepherd in the harbour, the guardian of
the seas for marine life against Asian poachers. It’s a trimaran, and looks
like a space ship. The marine nature cruise was amazing, we couldn’t do the
submersible part, but we had the best time with the albatross.
We had lunch in a crepery which was wonderful, then took the
bus tour around the island because it was indoors! Although, our first stop was
observation rock, and one lady stepped on a slippery rock and fell! It was so
bad that we then had to drive to the health centre, and the district nurse with
her ambulance met us there as it looked like the lady broke her arm. The guide
had only just explained about the free health service! Worse case, they fly you
to Invercargill for free.
The school of 27 children and 3 tecachers is incredibly well
equipped, with a new basketball/ netball court, gym etc. The community paid for
it themselves. They have only 26km of road, so one petrol pump. The sense of
community is immense, even from just what the guide told us. We visited Lee
beach to see the chain that links the island to the mainland. Stewart Island
has a brown chain, we saw the silver one at Stirling Point in Bluff.
From the beach we could also see the Dancing star ecological
reserve, a corner of the island has been completely cut off, and predator free
to take the land back to the original way of being. He fence is high, and buried
deep in the ground to protect everything inside the boundary and keep it
predator free. Our thanks to Rae, Jue and Archie for the trip!
Back at the Motel, we were told that sadly kiwi spotting has
to be cancelled due to the weather. However, we completely understand. While
watching Kaka on our balcony, we had a downpour, a double rainbow, then a
hailstone storm! So sadly we won’t see kiwi in the wild, but it’s a great
excuse to come back to Stewart Island, next time for a lot longer.
No comments:
Post a Comment