Wednesday 22nd April
Today I got up nice and early, went to the cafe, had a hot chocolate and then I went to the information centre to start my “Village and Bays Tour”. Basically you take a mini bus around Stewart Island and the driver does a little commentary, telling you all about the different places you visit. It’s quite a short tour; it lasts for about an hour and a half, because Stewart Island is so small. Also, there isn’t a lot of road – I think there is only about 27 kilometres of road on the entire island – I’m not sure, I should really check that, but you get the picture, there isn’t a lot of road! We stopped off at a few beaches, hence the Bay part of the tour title – they were actually really nice. We had a decent enough day for the tour, but if you ever have the chance to go to Stewart Island during the summer then do, because it is really beautiful! The driver also told us a lot about the people that live on the island; it’s actually really nice to hear a bit about the locals. Everybody knows everybody on Stewart Island – probably because there is a population of about 400! There is only one Policeman on the island and there’s pretty much no crime – what a cushy job! There also isn’t a doctor on the island, but there are two fully trained nurses and you can get to the mainland fairly quickly if you get really sick. Stewart Island is really popular for hikers, you can go on trips that last for a few days or a few weeks! It would have been nice to do some “tramping”, that’s what they call it, but I didn’t have enough time and I was still getting over the flu!
After our little bus tour I went on another tour, this one was called the “Pattersons Inlet Cruise” and it was actually really good! Basically it takes you from Stewart Island to a few of the surrounding islands, they do a running commentary and tell you all about the surrounding islands and what they are used for. A lot of the islands down here are bird sanctuaries because there are so many flipping birds in New Zealand! We were actually really lucky, we saw some Penguins! I was actually ridiculously happy about that – I love Penguins and I really wanted to see some when I was in New Zealand, so I was really glad that it happened! They are really tiny and there were only about 5 or 6 Penguins – we couldn’t get too close because they were scared of the boat, but you could see their little heads looking around and watching the boat! It was really hard to get pictures, but I got a few! After we saw the Penguins we saw some Dolphins! I’m all about the Dolphins these days! I think we are kindred spirits... I’m really at one with the Animal Kingdom these days. I would love to be a Zoologist or something like that, but I’m not smart enough/I’m too lazy to actually work for anything. After the Dolphins we just cruised around for a bit, saw some more beautiful islands and I had the desire to learn how to sail. I would love to live down here and then I could just get into my little boat and I could just sail around all the beautiful islands and have little picnics on the beach and I could go swimming with my Dolphin and Penguin friends!
After cruising about for a while we stopped off at a place called Ulva Island. Ulva Island used to be where the Post Office was – a little man and his wife were the only people to live here and every 6-8 weeks the post used to be delivered to Ulva Island. Then the little man would hoist a flag and the people who lived on Stewart Island and the surrounding islands would know that the post had arrived. Because it was such a special occasion everyone would get dressed up and then they would go collect their post and have a bit of a goss! The Post Office was in operation until quite recently, well not that recently, I think it stopped about 50 years ago, but I’m not actually sure, I wasn’t really listening... We stopped on Ulva Island and then went for a walk, saw some cool bird – we saw a relative of the Kiwi and a few cool looking Pigeons. My favourite was a little Robin! But it wasn’t like a regular Robin, it was all Black with a White chest! How cool is that! It was also really friendly – it got really close to me and I was clearing the leaves from the ground so it could find food easily – again, I am at one with the Animal Kingdom. We also saw a really cool green parrot – it probably has some fancy name, but it was just a cool looking bird. The beaches on Ulva Island are also really pretty, so it was definitely worth the trip! On the way back to Stewart Island we saw some Seals which was really cool too... Oh, we also saw loads of Albatross, which I was really happy about! One of the crew members was feeding them from the back of the boat – he was throwing them dead fish and they were getting really close to the boat. I’ve always wanted to see Albatross – it all began with “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”! Does anyone remember studying that poem at G.C.S.E? Good times! Nothing beats a bit of Epic Poetry! I took quite a few pictures of them, I think I got a few good ones, but it’s difficult when there flying all over the place! Then we headed back to Stewart Island! I was really glad I did this trip, I was a bit worried about going on the boat again, but it was fine, there were no traumatic incidents and I got to see Penguins, Dolphins, Seals, Albatross, some really cool birds and some amazing beaches! If you ever go to Stewart Island then you should definitely do this trip! There isn’t a lot to do so you should have plenty of time to fit this in!
After that I just came back to the Hostel, had some Coco Pops and then watched some more Home and Away. I’m sure you have heard enough about my fascination with Home and Away, so I’ll just say that it was great and that I can’t wait to go home and watch it every single night! I watched a bit of T.V and then went to bed – I was the only one in the room, which is actually quite strange. You get really used to sharing a room with other people, so it’s really strange when you are on your own. I’m not even going to lie, I was a bit freaked out – the Hostel is pretty basic, they used regular keys for each room, not cards like the city Hostels, so I hadn’t bothered to lock the room during the day, so when I got ready for bed I checked under every bed, about ten times, to make sure that nobody was going to kill me in my sleep. Don’t worry, I didn’t find anyone! It was actually quite nice getting up in the morning and not having to worry about waking everyone up... I was even able to turn the light on, which is such a luxury over here, normally you just get ready in the dark! But that’s literally another story for another day!
Basically, Stewart Island is really small and there isn’t an awful lot to do, but I really liked it. It’s a village and it feels like a village. The people are really friendly and they are really helpful – I think they understand that the only reason Stewart Island still exists is because of Tourism, so they are grateful that you are there, to help fuel their economy or whatever. It’s just a really chilled out place – I don’t think I would live there, because it wouldn’t be practical, but if I ever marry that millionaire then he can buy me a holiday home there. Oh, and a plane so I never have to cross that channel again. Oh, and a yacht so I can visit all the beautiful islands. Not that I’m demanding or anything.
Xx
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