Just a quick update on what i've been up to since I departed the island... I've been moving fast, as the pressure is on! Sunday August 2nd Managed to grab a lift from Andrew a sheep farmer from Winton from the ferry to Invers (Invercargill, but how the locals call it!) and picked up a bottle of wine along the way! I had a few hours to kill in Invers, and I'd pretty much seen all the sights on my first trip through, so I decided to take in some Harry Potter and headed to an early showing of the newest [View Full Entry]

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With a slightly sore head after a few too many "bulmers" last night I made my way down to the warf (pier) this morning to head out searching for oysters with Jack and his crew for the day. It was a beautiful morning, with the sun casting lovely colors over halfmoon bay. I popped down to the warf and wandered about for a few minutes before the boat, the Nikita arrived. I noticed a crate of Speights beer sitting wrapped up on the warf, which seemed strange. I didn't think something like that would survive very long on it's own out [View Full Entry]

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I'm back after 4 days in the wilderness, chocolate in one hand and coffee in the other as I write this..it's a juggling act I swear! Things didn't really start according to plan on Tuesday morning. Monday night was a nice surprise though! I decided to treat myself to some take away from the pub and ended up chatting to some friendly fishermen as I was waiting on my cod to be cooked. I was going to make some pasta to go with it. Anyway, I was chatting to the fishermen, who were their for a 2 day competition and the [View Full Entry]

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Rakiura Track - Stewart Island (36km - 3 days, 2 nights) ** Apologies for the lack of photos with this entry, it's explained in day 3 ** Rakiura Track - Day 1 This was my second attempt at "tramping" a national past-time here in New Zealand and it didn't disappoint! I was a lot more relaxed about heading out this time on my over night adventure, possibly a little too relaxed. This tramp would be different thought, for the first time, I had company! At first the thought of spending long hours climbing hills and possibly being hungry and grumpy with [View Full Entry]

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Jumped on a water taxi for the short trip over to Ulva Island, another refuge island where native birds are protected and wildlife is flourishing. Got chatting to Kevin from the US on the warf (pier) at Golden Bay, which was a little further from Halfmoon Bay than I thought. Thankfully things don't run on time like they do on the mainland!! The majority of the island is a reserve, home to numerous native birds including weka, the stewart island robin, Kaka, Karakiki, Saddleback, Riflemen etc. I decided to visit sydney bay to start and had my first encounter with weka. [View Full Entry]

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I decided to treat myself to a lie in this morning, if feels like months since I didn't have to check out of a hostel or just be up early to plant trees or save the world! After last nights "activities" I was glad to just chill this morning and catch up with myself. Loaded with a full bowl of porridge in my tummy, I ventured down to the DOC office/visitor center to see what the island had to offer. I had already picked up two leaflets on tramping routes on the island, one the Rakiura track ( a great walk, [View Full Entry]

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So after spending a nice relaxing day in Queenstown it was time to head south. I almost missed the bus, not like me to be late! Got chatting to the bus driver Max, which helped the trip pass. At one point I was drifting off and realized that the scenery was far too beautiful to nod off next to. The beautiful lakes and mountains leaving Q'town are really fantastic! Soon we were out on the plains and there were no more spikey mountains. The bus passed through some small town ships en route to Invercargill, not a lot to see. Arrived [View Full Entry]

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This happened quite randomly...the best way for things to happen! After knowing Mel all of about 12 hours, she had the courage to invite me along to a snow/drinking weekend which was being held at Ohau Lodge at the Ohau ski fields. Thanks Mel! We drove south to Christchurch from Havelock and then from there on to Ohau the next day. They lodge had no budget accomodaiton left for me...so I had to settle for a big double room all to myself - what a pity!! After a fantastic drive up through the mountains from Christchurch through some awesome snow covered [View Full Entry]

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I spent a wonderful week on a refuge island in the Marlborough Sounds assisting DOC in their valuable work in saving endangered spices. This was a week like no other. Once we got through the strict quarantine procedures on the mainland to make sure we weren't harboring any nasties who might wreak havoc on the protected island we were welcomed ashore with freshly baked gingerbread men, with our bright yellow fish bins of essentials! Firstly we were isolated. There were no more than 12 people on the relatively small island (see map for location) for the whole week that i was [View Full Entry]

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I'm off tomorrow to spend 5 days and 4 nights on a refuge island in the Marlborough Sounds - which is on the north of the south island. People are not allowed on this island, without special permission as such from the DOC (dept of conservation). I arranged the trip - or conservation holiday as it's known before i left home. I'm not exactly sure what i'll be doing on the island, but the DOC give a brief discription on their web site. http://www.doc.govt.nz/getting-involved/in-your-community/volunteer-programme/volunteer-programme-by-region/nelson-marlborough/maud-island-te-hoiere/ I [View Full Entry]

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