Stewart Island

We have a new entry on our "favorite places on earth" list: Stewart Island. Our week here was one the most enjoyable we've had anywhere. It's a quiet, peaceful little slice of paradise that's about the same size as the island of Kauai, but with only about 500 permanent residents. Most of the island is remote, isolated bush with lots of tramping tracks and loads of threatened and endangered critters - there are 15,000 Kiwi birds here for example, thanks to the fact that they've made it a national park and have severely restricted development.

The photo above is the view from our "bach" or cottage.


We had several Kakas come by every day to say hello. Very melodic songs and not shy about coming close for a handout, as you can see. It was a treat just to sit on the lanai and watch them.



Did several hikes. On one we came across the remains of an old whaling station. Here's the detritus from past days - a trypot (for reducing the oil from the blubber) and some anchors, windlasses and other assorted junk.



Just one of the many beautiful vistas on one of the hikes.


The rural natrure of the island is best represented by the photo above of a roadside call box - an old fashioned hand-crank telephone in the middle of nowhere.


Took a boat trip one day along the southwestern side of the island. One of the most remote areas on earth. Here are a couple of shots from the trip.



One of the grottoes we went into on the zodiac.



Our Kaka buddies.


Also spent one day over on Ulva island - in the inlet that forms the bay of Stewart. Lots of birds, including the ground nesting Weka shown here. Must have seen 20 of them during our tramps, and they're usually quite difficult to see in the wild.


Some of the typical jungle we wandered thru for a week. Was a bit drizzly and cool for the most part, but not enough rain to keep us indoors until our last day when the sky really opened up.

In Queenstown now where we'll be for 10 days.