If I Beg Enough...I will Get My Way...

After every adventure, I do have a bit of sadness; it is always hard for me to leave. Sometimes it is because I feel that I haven't seen the whole area as of yet, and there is more to explore, sometimes it is the people that I will miss; most times, it is both! Only 2 days and 1 night with 5 supposed strangers, that became friends and you wonder; in reality, will you ever seen them again - I find that hard. We still had another 1 1/2 months in New Zealand and I know that I have many more good times ahead, but it does take a bit of time just saying good bye. For just over 2 weeks we called Te Anau our home and Bob and Maxine our adopted guardians; the first of many that we would have in New Zealand, that we would discover.

Next..?????? All the way south to Stewart Island. We had from February 24, 2010 to March 2, 2010 to play around with before we had to be at the trailhead of the Able Tasman Track (north/west part of the South Island), and there were several options of what we could do, as you can imagine. This was a tough part because Delia and I are the type that generally like to see more of less, than less of more, but in New Zealand there are so many choices and we just wanted to do it all.....hmmmmm....a concept that just kept getting worse the more we learned and saw of New Zealand....oh yeah, we WILL be back! Ah, I digress......Even though Stewart Island was a bit more complicated to get to and meant less time going up the South Island, I really wanted to go. The bird life there is incredible and I also wanted to do another great walk that is on the island ( no surprise there). So with a bit of convincing, we decided our next destination would be to Stewart Island. February 24 - 26, 2010.

Stewart Island is a small island off the south part of the South Island, but still part of New Zealand. It involved a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from Te Anau to Invercargil (interesting bus ride to say the least, but a story for another time). From Invercargil, we took a little island hopper plane to Stewart Island. Okay, this was kinda' cool. I have been on small planes before, but they were usually really small, like 4 seater type planes, floater planes, etc., and they were private planes; the ones you would organize for a tour. This experience was a wee bit different. I knew it was going to be a small plane, but I was expecting the size of island hopper plane that we took from Vancouver to Victoria, BC (approximately 60 people + crew). The bus dropped us off at the airport and we proceeded to check in. We checked in with the same flying procedures; just alot less formal that's all. For our 5 month travel, we carried approximately 45 t 50 lbs (all our camping gear, plus all our warm and cool clothing). Knowing that we were travelling on a small plane and only going to Stewart Island for 3 days, we separated our gear and stored what we were not taking with us in the airport. It was nonchalantly put under the desk by the staff; no locks, no secured area, just put out of the way. We absolutely loved that part of New Zealand - yes, I am sure there is crime, but you really just don't have to worry; even Delia, who tends to double lock and hide items just to be sure, was free of all stress when in New Zealand. Our bags were thrown to the side with that "no worries" attitude.......I could definitely get use to that! Once that was done, we were asked by the fellow at the desk to hold on to our bags and step onto the big yellow foot prints that were located in front of the check in counter. Ooookayyyy, not sure what that was all about, but whatever. Delia repeated this same process and then he handed us our boarding passes. I started to walk away when of course I just had to ask what was with the yellow foot prints. Turns out there is a weight limit to the plane and everything must be weighed - including passengers - there is a weight restriction with passengers and you don't pay more for extra weight - you just can't go! .....This is when I first started to wonder, what type of plane we were going on. When boarding the plane, we started to walk across the tarmac, along the painted pathway, as instructed. Walking pass several planes (the size that I was expecting to go on). We continued walking and walking and walking and the planes kept getting smaller and smaller and smaller until we got to this wee little plane that fit 10 people including the pilot. As we reached the plane, the same guy that checked us in was organizing us in the plane. As Delia and I squeezed our butts in the plane, it all came crystal clear about the weight restrictions; it was a very tight fit! I thought it was so cool - a little commercial airliner - different even from a smaller plane. I was waiting for the pilot when I realized that the guy that checked us in, that escorted us to the plane was also the pilot - well or course, we are in New Zealand you know! The flight was about 20 minutes and being a clear day, the views were beautiful. When we landed, we were picked up on the runway, taken by van to the local post office and dropped off - life really can be this simple! We left Te Anau at 7am and finally arrived on Stewart Island at 2pm.

While on the island, we decided to hike the first leg of the Rakiura (Maori translation: The Land of Glowing Skies; possibly reference to the glorious sunrises or lingering sunsets that Stewart Island is known for or maybe the night-time glow of the Aurora Trail (one of the Great Walks)) on February 25, 2010 and to go to Ulva Island (a smaller island off of Stewart Island) on the 26th before we flew out at 1pm. We stayed at the Stewart Island Backpackers in town; nothing fancy, but it was nice, clean and quiet! The first day involved walking around town and eating dinner! On our travels during the day we met 3 women; Kris, Charlene and CiCi and after chatting and having a laugh or two, we agreed after our adventures tomorrow that we would meet for dinner. After our walk, Delia and I went for dinner at South Sea Restaurant for a treat. We had Blue Cod (apparently a very tasty fish and supposedly the best on Stewart Island, as rated by locals), wine and dessert - when we spoil ourselves, we spoil ourselves, what can we say? During our dinner, the girls that we met earlier passed our table and said hello. As they were walking away, Kris looked at us, put her hand on Delia's shoulder and with a little grin, said, "Oh, we are sorry to hear about your men's hockey team, the US beat them." Olympics, hockey, Canadian/US rivalry.......well, as you can imagine, I had steam coming out of every orifice in my body. For one, we were not able to watch the Olympics, but more than that - hockey is everything to Canadians and to be beat by the Americans.....in the Olympics.....on our home turf......I lost my mind! I politely (but not so genuinely) laughed and responded by telling them that I hoped they enjoyed their dinner (yes, we love you Kris, Charlene and CiCi, it's just a hockey thing). The rest of the dinner I proceeded to highjack our dinner conversation with speculations of what this could possibly mean - could the US really knock out the Canadians? This question haunted me and without access to the media, I had no way of finding out!!! Without holding any grudges, I was still looking forward to having dinner with them the next day - I just had a moment that's all!

When we woke up the next morning, it was rainy pretty hard. The hike we wanted to do was only 5 hours, so we decided to wait out the rain and go by lunch. Even though the weather was still questionable, we headed out. We hiked to the first hut; Port Williams. The track was pretty flat; well, at least for New Zealand, we only had day packs and the views along the coast were beautiful. We did not see alot of bird life (they were probably taking shelter), but overall, the hike was pretty awesome! It is known to be a pretty muddy track, but we did not get to that part.

We got home, showered and met the girls for dinner. We had a fabulous time!!! Talked and laughed and closed the place.......hmmmmm....we have a habit of doing that! Kris and Charlene paid for our meal - way too generous, but very much appreciated! It still blows my mind how we can meet people and develop such a bond in such little time!!! Travel brings out the best in people I am sure, but still, it encourages me to try a little harder during my everyday life to take time to get to know people!
After a night of fun, we went to bed hoping for a bit better weather for Ulva Island (a 15 minute boat ride from Stewart Island).

Let me explain a bit about the bird life in New Zealand. New Zealand's birds are outstanding. Over the years, several of their indigenous birds adapted to a "non-predatory" environment; because they could. Before the stouts, rabbits and the red deer were introduced to New Zealand, the birds did not have any predators. This resulted in birds such as the Kiwi to become flightless. Because of this adaptation, the birds were subjected to catastrophe when the non-indigenous animals were brought to New Zealand (a whole other story that you don't want to get me started on). Not only Kiwi birds, but alot of the indigenous birds (and plant life) were becoming threatened and even endangered. New Zealand as a whole, is working towards conservation of their indigenous plants and birds, but certain parts of the country are more conducive to successfully eradicating all predators and therefore restoring a healthy population of the indigenous birds and plant life. One of the most significant areas for this in New Zealand, is Stewart Island and even more so, Ulva Island. We were fortunate enough to have Furhana Ahmad; well known Conservationist and Natural History Guide, to show us around Ulva Island for 4 1/2 hours. She showed us all the plant life (combination of hardwood and podocarps and several different types of fern) and bird life (Fan Tails, Bell Birds, Robins, Saddle Backs, Rifelmans, Brown Creepers, Yellow Heads, Yellow Crested Parokette & Red Crested Parokette, explaining the significance of all. It was so informative and she was alot of fun. We really enjoyed it and made the trip to Stewart Island and Ulva Island worth it for sure!

After Ulva Island, we grabbed our bags and headed back to the post office, to be dropped off on the airstrip to head back home. We waited in the van, but watched the plane that we would be taking, land, drop passengers off and load us in. We had the same pilot, but this time in a plane that sat 6, including the pilot. The weather was still clear, but a bit windier. I was a tad on edge on take off and in the air when we would hit the air pockets, but when the pilot's shoulders were relaxed and he was stearing with his knees on the throttle while doing paper work, I thought, if he wasn't worried, I wasn't going to be worried. We landed in Invercargil, safe and sound! From Invercargil airport we rented a car and made our way up to the north part of the south island. We had 5 days; from February 26th to March 2nd - a little more rushed then I wanted to be, but we still had fun!