|
Stewart Island: Hiking, Birding and Kiwi Spotting
After four rainy days in Invercargill we headed further South to Stewart Island for our next Great Walk. As soon as we got off the ferry the weather improved and during a short exploratory walk to Archers Point even the sun made an appearance.
Just before sunset we headed to the wharf, where the Little Blue Penguins normally come ashore. We were there 45 minutes before sunset and the first penguin showed up ten minutes later, which was great, because it was still light enough to get a good view. Over an hour we saw three penguins coming to shore.
The next morning we started with the Rakiura Great Walk. To get to the start we had to walk 1.5 hours along back country roads, but fortunately, there was almost no traffic (after all, there aren't that many cars on the island). At Lee Bay we looked out for the rare New Zealand Sea Lions, but none were present. From there the track was a very pleasant meandering walk along the coastline with some beaches and some hills. We arrived at Port William Hut in the early afternoon and could secure a nice sleeping spot. The afternoon was spent reading, chilling and looking for the Geocache close-by. What we didn't have on the agenda, were the sandflies. They were numerous and by the time we got the mosquito spray out, we had been thoroughly bitten :(.
Stewart Island is famous for its diurnal Brown Kiwis. Normally, Kiwis only come out at night, but on Stewart Island they are regularly spotted during the daytime. Since we were not lucky the first day, we headed out after sunset for another look. And indeed, Fe spotted a Kiwi in the underbrush. I only saw it's rear before it silently crept away into the bush.
The second day was a long inland track crossing over to the other side of the peninsula, and we were warned, that this would be the muddiest track we had ever encountered. And so it was! Even though the rangers tried to make it easier by placing logs and stones in the deepest puddles, we sank into the morast several times. Fortunately, it was never deeper than our shoes.
However, it wasn't all that bad, and the track led through a beautiful forest, which we enjoyed a lot.
We even spotted a Kiwi print in the mud next to the track.
We were the first to arrive at the next Hut (North Arm Hut) in the early afternoon and could quietly settle in. After a while we even went for a short swim and suprisingly, the water was warmer than when we were in the Abel Tasman National Park!
After sunset we went to a spot where Kiwi were spotted recently and even though we waited patiently for one hour, none turned up. On the way back we made a detour, where we spotted a Morepork! That is a small brown owl which is only active at night and thus very hard to spot. So that was a real highlight for us!
The last day the weather turned a bit worse, while it was still dry, a strong and cool wind came up, encouraging us to walk quickly to get back into the warm. The track was in much better condidtion than the day before and there were only a few mud puddles to navigate. We came across several beaches again, but due to the lack of sunshine they were not as brilliant as on the first day.
Even though we were glad to arrive at our destination we had really enjoyed this Great Walk and can recommend it to avid hikers.
We knew that Stewart Island was special, when we planned our trip, so we had two extra nights on the island after our walk finished.
On the first day we headed to Ulva Island, which is an island sanctuary that has been predator free for almost twenty years and thus is a haven for birds.
We saw Tui, Yellowhead, Saddleback, Fantail, Kaka, Kakariki, Wood Pidgeon, Tomtit, South Island Robin, Weka, Oystercatcher, Red-Billed Gull, Stewart Island Shag, and more that we couldn't clearly identify.
Since Ulva Island was South of that part of Stewart Island which we could easily access, it also meant that finding a Cache there, was to be our Southernmost Cache. And it will remain so for a while, because only Antarctica and the Southern tip of South America is further South than here.
After dinner we headed to the wharf again to see more Little Blue Penguins. This time we only saw one Penguin coming in, however, after a while I spotted movement in a cave and soon after two penguins came out to walk and play around for a bit. For about twenty minutes we could observe them which was a great experience!
But our evening wasn't over yet! So far we didn't have much luck with Kiwi spotting (except the half Kiwi on our first walking day), so we joined a Kiwi spotting expedition by Ulva's Guided Walks. The special bit about this tour was that it went to Mamaku Point, a special private conservation area which is guarded by a biosecurity fence ensuring that no predators can get access. In addition it has the highest Kiwi density on Stewart Island. Unfortunately, the Kiwis were again extremely shy, and besides a far away call we spotted nothing. We still enjoyed the outing because it turned out to be a clear night and we had a perfect view of the night sky and the Milky Way. Ulva was heartbroken, that she couldn't show us a Kiwi (a first for her) and so we took a small detour on our way back and there we spotted two Kiwis in quick succession. So we finally did see our Kiwis :).Labels: animals, geocaching, hiking, new zealand, pictures, traveling
0 Comments:
|
