Stewart Island

From our balcony we could see the whole town

Stewart Island, New Zealand’s Third Island, is just a one-hour ferry ride south of South Island making it easy to visit. It is one place where it is relatively easy to see a Kiwi and several other endemic New Zealand birds. Home to about 400 people Oban is a quirky little town on Paterson Inlet. We took the morning ferry to begin our two day stay on the island. Our ferry carried us, our luggage, and a bit of freight across Foveaux Strait. This morning the winds were around 40 knots making for a very bumpy ride. With its wide base and two hulls, we never felt unsafe, but there were several pale faces and sounds of distress amongst the passengers. Linda almost made it and would have had the girl behind us not decided to be rather noisy and smelly as she succumbed. Even with the waves splashing against all the windows, I did manage to see a couple of Fairy Prions and Sooty Shearwaters seemingly unfazed by the winds. These seabirds are amazing to watch as they use the winds and waves to effortlessly soar across the oceans watching for fish near the surface for their sustenance.

As we walked off the ferry in Oban, we were greeted by Jeff, our host at the Bay Motel who came to drive us up the hill. While only a short walk, we certainly appreciated avoiding the walk with our luggage. It turned out to save us some real money, too. Rhondda helped us decide how best to visit the island and set up our tour of the island and the ferry to Ulva Island. As she recommended, we did not need to spend the $250 each it would have cost us for guided tours to see wildlife we could find on our own. The hotel is nicely appointed. Atop the hill, the balconies offer excellent views of the town and the harbor.

Some rain on our tour

Memories of party lines. No private phone calls.

One of several sandy beaches. Never crowded. 

A six hole golf course. They say you can play 18. 

That afternoon, we walked back down to the visitor center at the ferry landing for a tour of the island. Lee, our guide, lived up to the billing. She was fun and interesting and full of information. We saw several different beaches, each of which would be a great place to spend a summer afternoon.

Anglican church. The other restaurant is on this hill.

Dinner that night was at the local pub and hotel. There are only two restaurants on Stewart Island. The pub is a bit cheaper than the other which requires a climb to the top of the hill. Their food couldn’t be any better than we had at the pub and we had a view. The hill climb offers views of the harbor but the restaurant is too far back to see anything but trees. A cafe offers brekkie and lunch. We had them make sandwiches for our trip to Ulva Island. We saw a pizza place, too, but it is closed.

Ferry landing. Sometimes blue penguins are viewable from here.

After our tour of Ulva Island (see separate post) we went to the Bunkhouse Theatre to watch documentary on the island. “A Local’s Tail” is told from the dog Lola’s point of view. She adds a bit of quirkiness to the story of the island’s history and serves as a guide of things to do on the island. “A Local’s Tail” is the only movie shown at the theatre with three showings each day. The 53 seats are recently installed, very plush and comfortable. I suppose that tells us something more about the island.

Linda managed to find some clothes to purchase at one of the two shops in town. The Stewart Island Gift Shop is stocked with some lovely gift items and also operates a tour company. Glowing Sky is a clothing store that started when one of the local residents decided he could make a bit of extra money selling T-shirts. From printing shirts in his garage, he and  his wife have developed an excellent line of clothing using all New Zealand products and labor. The T-shirts they sell today are nothing like what they started out with. Everything in the story today is only of the highest quality. Not surprisingly, Linda found a couple of items she had to have. They weren’t T-shirts.

Many people who come to Stewart Island come to ‘tramp’ around the island. Some tracks can be completed in a couple of hours or less, but others require from three days to over a week. We met some who had just returned and others who were headed out. The tracks are well-maintained and signed to getting lost would be difficult, but you better be prepared for rain and some slogging along the way. I did take one of the shorter ones after dark in a failed attempt to spot a kiwi up at the rugby pitch. I failed to see one, but did hear one on my way back to the hotel.

The chain, made with aluminum from the Bluff aluminum plant symbolizes
Stewart Island's link to the mainland.
Another chain in Bluff completes the link.

Song Thrush. We saw many on Stewart Island.

Tui are all over the place making noise to scare off any competition.
Early settlers called them parson birds because it looks like they wear a collar.

We had some rain and some sun during our two days on the island.  It was a great place to just hang out with some very friendly folks proud of their town. While you probably won’t see a kiwi like we did, you can pay for a tour that guarantees a night sighting. And you can try that on your own at the Rugby pitch although the crowds there make that a less likely option than it used to be unless you are willing to wait an hour or two. We highly recommend a couple of days on this southern outpost of New Zealand if you are in the neighborhood and do stay at the Bay Hotel. They are the best hosts.