The Birds

I've always had this fantasy that if I was alive in the time of the great explorers that I would have hitched myself to one of them and sailed around the unknown world. After the one hour crossing from Bluff to Stewart Island, I rescind this fantasy.

The hour long crossing to get to Stewart Island wasn't even in rough weather! It was really windy and there were giant swells and whitecaps, but it was a beautiful sunny day. The first half hour went pretty well but then there was that one huge swell and I almost lost it, but didn't-thankfully! I guess it was just mild sea sickness, but really that was enough! After what seemed like the longest hour of my life, we got to Stewart Island and I never wanted to get back on the ferry ever again!

We got to the island at about lunch time, so after lunch and dropping our bags at the backpackers place we were staying it was time to go out and explore the island. We had hoped to rent a sea kayak and kayak to Ulva Island that afternoon, but the one person who rents kayaks was gone for the day (of course!) so we took a short water taxi ride to Ulva Island.

Ulva Island is a predator free island sanctuary for native plants and birds live in a safe environment. I can't say Keith and I have ever been birding before, but that is pretty much what we were doing-keeping our eyes and ears peeled for the large number of birds that live on the island.

The bird we saw the most (and had come across before) was the weka, that always seemed to be following us as we walked down the beaches.

From New Zealand

We also had seen these little robins before-they also like to get really close to people like the weka do-they are so cute!

From New Zealand

Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of my favorite bird on the island: the tui. I mainly love the tui because their bird call sound almost exactly like R2-D2, which is just awesome! We saw just about every bird on the island, except the kiwi bird which is nocturnal and almost never seen.

Hiking and bird watching were not the only thing to keep me entertained on the island, Keith also had to show off the guns!

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On the water taxi ride back to the main island we came across three Mollymawks (these are considered medium sized albatrosses) that felt like putting on a show for our boat. This does no justice as to how big these are!

From New Zealand

From New Zealand

So far the trip to Stewart Island was living up to the hype!