Hi from Stewart Island
I'm in Stewart Island at the moment - the dot at the bottom of the south island - on my way home tomorrow.
Around quarter to 11 we caught a water taxi to Ulva Island sanctuary, spending the day on some nice walks through New Zealand native bush. The island was cleared of rats in 2000 and they are trying to recreate the island as what a New Zealand rainforest would have looked like before the introduction of foriegn predators. Apparently the top predator on the island is now the Weka, a ducklike flightless native bird with black and brown feathers. A cheeky weka preyed on us as we ate our lunch, walking around us in a circle and hopping onto the rocks we were sitting on. All for the hope we might throw it some crumbs. Very tame.
Found a nice little beach that we were able to have to ourselves for an half an hour or so. We then walked back to the whalf to catch the water taxi back to Golden Bay on Stewart Island. The walk back was especially nice as the sun was shining through the forest creating some lovely soft patterns of light.
Around quarter to 11 we caught a water taxi to Ulva Island sanctuary, spending the day on some nice walks through New Zealand native bush. The island was cleared of rats in 2000 and they are trying to recreate the island as what a New Zealand rainforest would have looked like before the introduction of foriegn predators. Apparently the top predator on the island is now the Weka, a ducklike flightless native bird with black and brown feathers. A cheeky weka preyed on us as we ate our lunch, walking around us in a circle and hopping onto the rocks we were sitting on. All for the hope we might throw it some crumbs. Very tame.
Found a nice little beach that we were able to have to ourselves for an half an hour or so. We then walked back to the whalf to catch the water taxi back to Golden Bay on Stewart Island. The walk back was especially nice as the sun was shining through the forest creating some lovely soft patterns of light.