Day 20 – Stewart Island

It was an early morning flight on a little plane that sat 9 passengers and 1 pilot. As we flew from Invercargil to Stewart Island, the waves below were really choppy and we were so happy not to be on the 1 hour ferry boat crossing! The total flight time was only 15 minutes and flying over the island helped us appreciate how dense the forest is and how “wild” the island still is. There are very few roads and the ones they do have are in a very small area. The rest of the island is reached only by multiple days of hiking or by boat. The only town is Oban. It’s a very peaceful fishing village. We spent the day hiking the trails that were within reach from town center which took us about 5 hours to do.

When we popped out onto a small paved road at the end of the first trail, we were instantly greeted by black lab puppy. She decided we were suckers and ran to fetch a stick. Her name was Kiki and we played fetch for a long time down at the beach. Then her buddy, another black lab named Snow, came to join the fun and started to dig up the beach. As he dug, Kiki would jump up trying to catch the sand. It was a beautiful bay, so we did not mind hanging out and playing with the dogs for awhile.

We continued hiking through rain forests, climbing up and down the slopes and randomly popping out to see a new bay or flower or mushroom. Most of the time hiking, we were looking up in the tree tops. The Tui birds were everywhere and they sounded like a mix of R2D2 robots, lasers and early Depeche Mode Techno music. When they fly, it is very loud. They rapidly flap their wings and then they glide through the narrow openings along the trail. There were lots of other birds that were entertaining too. However, the Tui Birds put on the best musical performance. We did not see any Kiwi birds. Stewart Island has over 20,000 kiwi, but they are nocturnal and very shy.

While tramping down another trail, we came across a beautiful deserted beach. If it had been warm, I would have jumped right in. From there we just kept exploring until it was time to head back to catch our return flight. The return flight was a lot bumpier with a head wind of 20 knots. I had to find my happy place during those 15 minutes of flying. Once back at the airport in Invercargill, we could see the clouds getting darker. We made our trip ahead of the weather, but just barely. There is definitely a big storm coming tonight!