Coddiwomple Stardate 171208

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We have been on the move for a month now so on Saturday we decided to have a break, catch up on washing and blogs and work out what to do next. Stuart Island seemed to be the best place to do this. We changed our booking from Tuesday to next Saturday the 9th December. Upgraded our accommodation from tent to double dorm and being Stray people got a good price. $20 a night each.

Sunday went for a couple of hours walk to their Bather’s Beach then around to Butterfield Beach and up to Moturau Moana Gardens New Zealand’s southern most public gardens and has a great view overlooking Halfmoon Bay. Some of their fencing is made up from fern tree logs and continue to grow once back in the ground. Total amount of people we saw was 8. Both beaches had no one on them. Stuart Island for some reason has always been an attraction to me and have been looking forward to it since we began. Only 3% of the island is used by people and the rest is as natural as you can get. The longest hiking trail takes 11 days. We have spoken to people who have done it and say it is spectacular and isolated, but you need extreme endurance. So probably not for us. We are going to do more day walks than overnight ones.

Sunday night saw us back at the pub doing a quiz night and coming in 3rd last. But all donations go to community projects. With only 402 permanent residences there is a lot of community spirit. So, after pizza and $9 bottles of beer which are 745ml it was time to call it a night.

Monday, we went on a 1½ hour tour around the 27km of roads they have here. There are no other roads on the other 97% of the island not even tracks just tramping trails. The furthest we went was to Lee Bay which is the beginning of Rakiura National Park and the hikes. We came across the other end of the huge chain which lines up with the one in Bluff on the bottom of South Island. In the afternoon went to their small theatre to watch a 40min movie on the history of Stuart Island (Rakiura) narrated by Lola a cute little Blue Staffy who we met. The movie was called “A Locals Tail”.

As I have mentioned already we have had great weather. But on Stuart Island there has been a drought people are starting to run out of water. It hasn’t rained here for 3 weeks but finally they got a little rain over night. We decided to go on a walk today from Oban to Bragg Bay then Dead Man Beach and around to Horseshoe Bay and back again. Saw our largest seaweed ever today. Apparently, it is harvested on Stuart Island and used for food and seasoning. We walked about 9.5km and some steep terrain but was worth the effort. Great track and amazing views.

No rain but Wednesday was very foggy all day. Went for another great walk just outside of the town. This time the trail went to Deep Bay then around to Golden Bay and back to Halfmoon Bay. It was another spectacular walk through coastal forest with some shear drops down to the ocean. This is another well maintained track complete with 1024 steps. Once back to the backpackers to find out how many of the next 21 strays we knew. There was quite a few, some we left in Queenstown others as far back as Abel Tasman.

That night decided to go Kiwi hunting. Stuart Island has an estimated 10,000 Kiwis after waiting for darkness which is 10.30pm quietly walking through pitch black trails and soft whispering we failed to see a Kiwi. We heard the night before a group of school kids had a boom box cranking and came across a Kiwi.

I have mentioned before I was disappointed with the North Island because of the environmental damage man has done by introducing grasses, weeds, rats, stotes, deer and possums. The South Island suffers also. Stuart Island has been successful in reducing the pests but still has a lot of weed around the town. But 95% is pretty much left untouched. Ulva Island (Te Wharawhara) is an amazing and one New Zealand should be very proud of. Ulva is surrounded by Stuart Island and is a nature and marine reserve that has been almost untouched by man. Here all vermin and weed has almost been eradicated. They have been reintroducing endangered species with great success. If you ever wanted to see how New Zealand would have looked prior to man this is the place to go. All their walk trails are well maintained and the bird life here is incredible. We met a woman who has travelled the world looking for her beloved birds and believes Ulva has the most diverse bird population she has ever witnessed. They have a native plant species that has not evolved in 400 million years. We spent five hours here just enjoying the tranquillity of it all. A must see for anyone coming this far down New Zealand.
There is a 1hr guided tour on the Island for $95 NZD. We walked to Golden Bay 10mins then caught The Ulva Island Ferry for $20 return and a very informative guide book for $2. Your boarding pass is quite unique it is a leaf from a plant named puheretaiko plant. They have been in use as postcards up until the 1970's.












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