BoomerGirl Diary

With my departure from New Zealand looming on the horizon, it became time for some tough choices. Everyone, it seems, that comes to New Zealand’s South iIsland goes to Queenstown and nearby Milford Sound. It is supposed to be the ultimate in scenic boat rides and hiking.

Milford Sound is on the west side of the island, in an area of New Zealand that is called Fiordland. It is a remote and sparsely populated area of forested mountains, countless waterfalls and long deep fiords. But I have been reading about New Zealand’s third and most southerly island, Stewart Island. It is claimed to be the country’s best-kept secret, and with the Milford Sound area boasting over a million visitors a year, we decide to take the road less traveled.

Since time is short, we fly to the southern city of Invercargill where there are two options for travel to Stewart Island. The first is a ferry across Foveaux Strait, which takes about an hour in good weather. The second is by a nine-seat airplane, which takes about 20 minutes. The travel books caution that Foveaux Strait is one of the most unpredictable passages in the world and that the water can be extremely rough.

One local resident put it this way: The choice is between 20 minutes of terror or two hours of misery. He tells us this as we are all flying above the strait on our way to Stewart Island. Our plane is very small, and our pilot looks very, very young. Do they let 19 year olds fly planes? But, our flight is beautiful and the landing on a hilltop airstrip smooth.

The Maori originally called the island Te Punga o Te Waka a Maui, which means “The Anchor Stone of Maui’s Canoe.” Legend tells that Maui and his crew anchored their canoe, which was the South Island, using Stewart Island — and then were able to raise the great fish that became the North island.

Stewart Island is bigger than expected at about 40 miles long and 25 miles wide. Early efforts to colonize this island with the usual European style farming and logging ventures failed, and left the island largely untouched. Only one percent of the island is inhabited, and most of these folks live in the fishing village of Oban. There are about 400 permanent residents, one school, two pubs and a grocery store, plus the usual tourist information and souvenir shops.

We spent the afternoon walking through the fern-filled native forests via very well-maintained easy trails. It probably should be noted that hiking trails rated “easy” in New Zealand are well-marked gravel pathways with bridges over the streams and sturdy steps built for climbing up and down. “Easy” does not mean that there will be no climbing up and down, though, and we are thoroughly worn out by the time we get back to our hotel. Seasoned trampers can take 3-7 day hikes around the entire island using much more primitive trails and overnight huts, but we are not qualified for that type of adventure.

For me, the highlight of this walk is the chance to watch a Tui bird sing its heart out. What a concert of sounds! Some notes are birdlike-fluid and melodic, but some sounds are buzzes, clicks and wheezes, and some parts of the concert are stolen from other birds. The Tui really seems to be a one-bird band.

Despite what we have read, we find the accommodations on Stewart Island more than adequate. Our room is modern and comfortable and the meals served in our hotel are first rate. Also available on the island are backpacker style lodgings and the occasional house to rent.

The next morning we are up early to take a guided tour of Ulva Island. A water taxi takes us to this showcase of nature preservation where there has been a successful pest eradication program. Now that the pests are gone, endangered native species of birds are being introduced back onto the island, such as the South Island Saddleback, the Steward Island Robin and the Rifleman. We see all of these birds, as well as Weka, Forest Pigeons, Kakas, Tui, Bellbirds and Red-headed Parakeets. It is a bird lover’s paradise, and many of these birds are so accustomed to people that they are not particularly afraid of our approach.

The forest on Ulva Island is a practically untouched, extremely ancient forest that is as close to visiting the Mesozoic Period as is possible on this planet. Our guide does a great job of pointing out the more unusual varieties of the hundreds of types of mosses and ferns growing under the forest canopy. Our favorite fern is one that has fronds that are a regular size, but only a couple of cells thick, giving it a transparent, cellophane appearance.

Because the forest on the island is not deciduous, many types of mosses thrive without being smothered by seasonal falling leaves.

We spend almost four hours walking over and around this nature preserve on trails only slightly more “easy” than the previous day. The predicted rain fails to arrive and we feel unbelievably lucky to experience this nature preserve. Our guide comments on how in winters past she would see no other human footprints on the beaches besides her groups’ and that there seems to be many more visitors these days.

Nevertheless, on this beautiful Sunday morning, there are six of us in total on the island. Unfortunately, we do not come across any Kiwi birds, even though they live on the island and sometimes come out during the day. Oh, well, maybe next time … It certainly would be great to come back again for a longer stay.

Our flight back to Invercargill is in an even smaller single prop airplane. We take off 30 minutes early because all of the passengers are present and ready to go. Imagine doing that on a regular airline flight.

We will soon be experiencing many regular airline flights on our next set of adventures in the other Oz … Australia!