Advertisement
Published: March 6th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Date visited: 9-11th February
We very suddenly arranged Stuart Island quite out of the blue after I made a few phone calls. One of these was to the airport just to see if they had any standby tickets which they had. We turned up at the 'airport' where we checked in without showing I.D. We could have been The Jones's or Jack and Jill for all they knew. In addition I was suprised they didn't scan our hand luggage. I wouldn't normally raise an eyebrow at this as it happens automatically (or so I thought) but only last week a woman was arrested in New Zealand for stabbing a pilot on an internal flight from Christchurch to Dunedin; obviously this family company didn't see the need to react to this and take extra precautions.
We checked in then - which basically involved saying our names and waiting until the same guy who read out the boarding details proceeded to then take us to our 9 seater 'bus', complete with fur seats, rickety doors and shabby safety posters. No air hostesses. No check-in staff. No security guards.
Ben got the seat in the front with the pilot himself.
What a treat! The pilot then turned to face us after we buckled up - not that I thought this safety precaution would make any difference! Anyway, at least ginger boy fresh out of college, was making the effort, pointing to the exits' and lifevests. mmm.
We cruised down the runway at a speed I honestly thought wouldn't be sufficient to take the thing off the ground but somehow we drifted upwards into the air.
The whole thing was done with such minimal fuss and bother I actually found it quite refreshing if feeling a little bemused by the whole experience. The sea and island views from the window were worth the ticket in itself. The 9-seater element also contributed to the experience as fellow women were giggling at the whole thing. We were only 500 feet up so saw quite a lot of detail.
Stuart Island enabled us to see a variety of bird life including Oyster catchers, green parrots, Tuis and bellbirds. The walks we took around the island, one inland and one around the coast enabled us to explore the coastline and more remote areas away from the village.
Ironically we woke up on our last morning in Stuart Island dying to leave despite its quaint fishing boats, bays and island feel. This had nothing to do with the island but the souless pit of a place we stayed in for the 2 nights - a cross between a 70's nursing home and a waiting room for the dead with the endless white haired bird watchers also staying there 😞
At least the break ended in style when I had the chance to sit in the cockpit with the pilot on the return leg experiencing similar thoughts and views of what Ben did on the way there. This gave me a great opportunity to finally see what all those switches and buttons do in the cockpit.
Unfortunately I couldn't apply all this attention during the flight as yet again I was thwarted by the size of my feet. As I got into position for takeoff I realised very quickly what I had to do. Fit my size 11 boat of a foot in between 2 pedals, usually used by the co-pilot of course, but this time obviously not! I could barely move and ended up being a frozen shape for the entire duration of the flight (I had to have my left leg kinked, my canoe between the pedals, and my other leg frozen for the controls to move freely as he pulled back the levers for takeoff)...
Why do I do it to myself?!
As we took off I kept in my position desparately not trying to move whilst watching the gadgets and dials incase anything was plummetting to zero or I saw the flashing of lights! It was all a bit weird. Looking out of the front window the plane looked as though it was was swaying all over, like in a boat when there's a drunk captain onboard trying to steer it through a rough sea. Oddly though, if you looked out at the side windows things looked pretty normal - this is the view passengers normally get (and I can now say is the most re-assuring)!
Stuart Island was worth the detour. The bays and lush vegetation reminded me of Guernsey. It definitely had a quaint island feel. With only one village on the whole island it is also very quiet with plenty of tracks to walk on where you feel in the middle of nowhere. Total seclusion. Its a shame the accommodation options were so limited but what can ya do!?!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.142s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 18; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0556s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb