Blogs from Stewart Island, Southland, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

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, 3 days, 2 nights) and the Northwest and Southwestern Circuits which are much longer (9-11 days) and require significant navigation skills. The DOC office was very useful as always with lots of brochures and useful ... read more

My knees completely gave out on the NW circuit. I spent the last 2 days trying to walk without bending my knees. So we ditched the packs and hired some kayaks instead. Paterson Inlet is a great place for kayaking and just a half hour walk from Oban. The West side of Stewart Island is apparently tilting up leaving the East side sinking under the ocean. This means a lot of the valleys on this side are being drowned, a recipe for great kayaking. There are heaps of bays and islands, and lots of rivers to look around. We spent a fabulous afternoon in the sun paddling about, seemingly the only ones on the water (apart from the blue penguins). ... read more

The third and smallest of New Zealand's three islands, is the kiwi haven of Stewart Island, a mere boat ride South of the South Island across the Foveaux Strait. The reason most people visit is for the pure wilderness of the place, the opportunity to do some cracking tramping and the added bonus of a rare spotting of a kiwi in the wild. We spent a night in Invercargill, a last minute decision made after driving to and making an inspection of the port town of Bluff and deciding that this drab and depressing place, was not where we wanted to lay down our bags for the night. We also got the added benefit of free freshly baked bread in the hostel we stayed at. The boat trip across from Bluff across the Foveaux Strait takes ... read more

I got a plane to Stewart Island today and will spend a few days here.... read more

After leaving the sun and warmth of the Coramandel I arrived at Christchurch airport and immediately started pulling out the jumpers!! I met up with Helen who, having arrived on an earlier flight from Welly, was slowly loosing the will to live.... apparently 3 hours at Christchurch airport is a bit too long! We eventually got our Ezy hire car.. not so easy as the company name would have you believe... and finally hit the road down to Dunedin, which was where we planned to spend the first night. The drive down wasn't particularly interesting scenery (think flat farmland) but we had some nice stops at Timaru, Omaru and the the Moeraki Boulders where Hels and I suprised ourselves at just how many photo's you could take of rocks! To be fair they were pretty impressive ... read more