When we travel, Brandon and I like to try to get off the beaten (tourist) path and see a little more of what the locals see. So when Brandon read about Stewart Island it was quickly added to our must-do list.
While Stewart Island is home to one of the New Zealand great walks, it is not overly trafficked by locals or tourists. In fact, most Kiwis we met had never been to the island, so we were excited to check it out. We took an early morning ferry from Bluff (next to where we caught our shark boat) and arrived just before lunch. We immediately noticed that life moved a bit slower on the island. People were hanging around our hostel talking about starting the great walk “at some point” that day, and just relaxing. (Island time.) But with only 2 nights there, we were ready to start exploring. (Is anyone surprised?)
We grabbed a quick bite and hopped on another boat over to Ulva Island, a predator free bird sanctuary nearby. It was mid-afternoon, but I was still crossing my fingers hoping we would spot a kiwi bird. I scanned the ground with every step and listened closely, but sadly – we saw no kiwi. We did see a handful of other birds including a couple of Oystercatchers protecting a nest, Tui (one of our favorites we would later discover), Fantail and more.
The island wasn’t very large, and we had some time before the return ferry, so we took a nice waterfront nap before making our way back to the dock.
That night, we head over to the local pub for dinner and trivia night. We paired up with a local couple that were on their own for the game. We did not have high expectations for our performance, but it was very fun and we ended up getting 5th out of 15+ teams! If you are in the area on a Sunday night, we highly recommend stopping by for a game.
Once it got dark, we went to a nearby field where kiwi have been known to come out. But after waiting a while, we saw nothing and called it a night.
The next morning, we slept in a bit (island time after all) before heading on a beautiful but fairly easy hike to Horseshoe Bay and continuing on to Lee Bay before heading back. (We estimate it was about 12K total.) On this walk, we admired how the local children were free to roam and play as they pleased. The community on the island is so small that all the locals know each other and each other’s kids, and look out for them as they play. It was cool to see since that doesn’t happen much back at home.
Since it was such a beautiful day, we stopped on a waterfront bench to relax and read our books. The bench was between two big bushes, and in those bushes were a handful of feisty Tui birds, who put on a show for us – playing around and fighting over flowers to eat from. It was beautiful and very entertaining.
For dinner that evening, we bought some food to cook since it was Christmas Eve and many places were closing early. We also bought a few bottles of wine to share at our hostel for a bit of a Christmas celebration. But surprisingly we could not give it away. A few people partook, but the Christmas spirit had not seemed to reach the island.
Around sunset, we went on kiwi hunt number two. There was a “Kiwi Spotting” book at the hostel where people note when and where they saw the birds – so we followed the recommendation to go on a path behind a local church. And guess what – it was a good tip! We saw a kiwi hanging out and searching for dinner – and he was bigger than I expected.
There were a few of us there including a woman with two kids and another couple. We followed the kiwi into the woods a bit but it went behind a gate marked “Private Property.” The woman told me to just go on through the gate, which surprised me. But it turned out to be her property. And not only was she allowing us through to follow the kiwi, but she invited us and the other couple into the house for Christmas Eve drinks, cheese and crackers. We ended up spending 2 or 3 hours with them – and they even invited us back over for Christmas Day. We would have accepted, but we were taking the early ferry back out the next morning. But we could not have dreamed up a better way to celebrate the holidays.
Brandon & Devon (BaD) Journey 