Stewart and Ulva Island

Monday 12 July 2010

We got breakfast which included homemade bread with jam and butter (which was so hard it was breaking the bread), warm oatmeal/granola/cream/blueberry mixture stuff, and sunny side up eggs over toast. It was quite tasty. He asked if we would like smoked salmon, which we all declined. I just like cooked fish.

After breakfast, we headed out to Golden Bay Wharf. It was on the opposite side of the peninsula. To get there we walked up a hiking trail called Fachsia Walk. It was quite a pretty walk. We walked to the wharf and saw a ferry to Ulva Island (which is a bird sanctuary). It was not the water taxi, so we had to wait a few minutes. He arrived and drove us to the island. It only took about 10 minutes.

When we got there, we walked along the beach and immediately saw a bird. Our first instinct was that it was a kiwi. Well, it wasn't. It was actually a weka. So that was a bit disappointing. Actually, we were on several beaches, and in each beach, we saw several wekas. We were able to go on all the walking tracks throughout the island. We stopped quite a bit and waited to see some birds. We were able to see many birds. It was kind of fun. We spent three hours on the island, and it was enough time to see the whole island.

When we got back to Stewart Island, we went tramping some more. We first went to a beach. Then we headed toward the lighthouse. Alison left to go back to the hostel, so Mom and I went all the way to the lighthouse. The lighthouse was really nothing exciting, but the area was a good place for penguins and other birds. Unfortunately for us, it was the wrong season. So there were no birds for us to see. We did get to see a stone house that Mom wanted to see.

After the lighthouse, we started walking up to Ringaringa Road and found a trail. It was quite muddy at times, and the sun was barely starting to set. We didn't want to go back that way. We got to a golf course and could only think to go through the course to get to a street. We went way way up the hill to the opposite side and realised there was a fence surrounding it. So we went to one end and were considering climbing over it, when we found an opening. Like usual, there were no signs, yet we somehow ended up where we were supposed to be according to the map.

When we got to the end, we saw a short walk to a street we needed to be on. So we took the trail. Since signs and directions are basically useless and misleading, we ended up taking the really long trail instead. It wouldn't have been a problem if the sun was still up. The sun was gone and the skies were rapidly darkening. If that wasn't enough, we had a trail of endless stairs that would go up and down without warning. If that wasn't enough, the steps were various sizes. Going up was treacherous, but going higher the trees thinned and it was a bit easier to see. Going down, you go under the canopy of leaves, and you can't see squat. Towards the end, Mom told me she literally could not see me or if there were any stairs. It was hard to judge where to put the feet since the steps change sizes without warning. So I would always tell her when they started or stopped. At the last set of stairs, she wasn't sure if she was finished and was taking really tiny steps and looked like she was walking on her own feet to keep from tumbling down these unpredictable steps. I kept trying to assure her that she was done, but she didn't realise I could see her. Amazingly, we came upon a road that led us right to the hostel.

We then found Alison and ate dinner. We attempted to go stargazing, but it was raining, so it would have been pointless. So we played phase 10 instead.