The road south is flat land sheep country and I now know where all those 30 million sheep are - they are all over the fields to our left and right and into the distance. Hedgerows of flax, Pampas Grass and Manuka stretch for miles. We are heading to the south coast, turning east towards Bluff and the ferry to Stewart Island
Our first stop is
Clifden Suspension Bridge ( no we are not blown off course to Bristol) on the river Waiau. The bridge was built n 1899 and has a 366 foot span. This route is an old Maori trail. Takitimu a great Maori waka (canoe) names the mountain range here. There is a plaque dedicated to a young pony express boy who was drowned here attempting to deliver the mail on horseback across the flooded river. He was found washed up in a local cave but the his beloved pony was never found. The river here was prone to annual flooding until the
Manapouri Hydro electric station was built and dams and sluices effectively control the water flow of lakes and rivers all over this region.
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| The rugged Southern coast line |
After a couple of hours drive we hit the rugged coast line and southern ocean that we will be sailing across later today This was the land of Whalers and Sealers and the home of Maori before the sheep farming and managed timber felling took over when right whales were in short supply and the need for whale oil for lighting was replaced by electricity and oil from the ground.
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| Heritage Cafe in Riverton |
We are stopping for lunch in
Riverton and visiting the rural Museum which has been one of the highlights as we travel around this Country. I remember visiting other Museums for example
Arrowtown and
Rotorua. They are great examples of how we can remember our heritage in regions not just countries and that makes you feel for a short moment that you are right in there and part of the local history. The
'Right' Whale is 18m long and weighs 70 tonnes. It was still much easier to tow than the larger sperm whales. 26000 were killed until whaling was banned in NZ. It took 6 men in 22ft long boats with 300 fathoms of rope (1 fathom = 6 foot) and 4 harpoons to kill these graceful and friendly creatures.
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| the coastline to Bluff |
The cafe we lunched in has an interesting history and there are many pictures of the days when this town was a pretty rough and ready fishing and whaling port. We continue along the coast into Invercargil, a very important port and town from the early settler days and the gold rush. It is not the prettiest of places these days. We had a drive round and the park area was probably the highlight.
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| Stirling Point signpost |
We were keen to get to
Bluff a short distance to the south east and to stand next to the landmark that marks the extreme
south of
South Island. As the crow flies it is 1400 kms (900miles) to
Cape Reinga at the north of
North Island but we had travelled much much more (around 3000 miles) in the three weeks
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| We had made it to the South Coast |
travelling to date. The sign post stated it was 19000 kms to London around 11500 miles but again we had travelled thousand more since Southampton all those weeks ago now. What a journey and we still had a bit further south to go yet across the 18 mile
Foveaux Strait a notorious piece of sea that has taken its toll on many of those
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| Anchor chain on Bluff shore |
whaling boats I talked of earlier. There is an anchor chain & stone in
Bluff which has its other end on
Stewart Island (
Rakiura in Maori). A story relates to '
The Anchor Stone of Maui's Canoe', it refers to the part played by this island in the legend of
Maui and his crew, who from their canoe (the South Island) caught and raised the great fish, (the North Island). The chain disappears under the strait and reappears in
Lee Bay on
Stewart Island.
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| Aluminium Smelter at Bluff |
Now on the ferry, we are passing that Aluminium smelter plant - the largest in the world I am told as we sail out of the harbour. You can recall in my last blog that
Manapouri Power station was built to supply the water required to run the smelting process here. I cannot help wondering why we cannot use more of the oceans raw power that is right next to them in abundance. I am no Engineer but there must be a good reason why the electricity has to come by national grid from the beautiful Lakes and Sounds of Fiordland at a cost of 16 lives and many millions of dollars.....
Another glorious day and the strait was calm and the trip a delight. It was getting towards dusk when we docked and our Motel Manager met us and drove us to our one night on the island. We want to get up to the view point to watch the famous sunset in this part of the world. Maori legend again>>
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| Sunset over Oban |
Rakiura (Stewart Island) is translated as "The great and deep blushing of
Te Rakitamau an early Maori Chief, seen today as the glowing sunrises, sunsets and the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights. T
e Rakitamau left his home to ask a high ranking
Kati Mamoe family for the hand in marriage of the elder of his two daughters. To his embarrassment he blushed terribly when he was turned down.
Te Raki Tamau then asked for the hand of the second daughter, but she too was already betrothed. It is said that the red skies of
Stewart Island reflect the blushing embarrassment of
Te
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| Glorious sunset |
Rakitamau. It has been shortened over the years to
Rakiura. In
memory of the heat of his face the highest peak on Stewart Island is named
Hananui (the great blush). We were not disappointed and the main (and only) town is called Oban and that filled me with happy memories of trips to the gulf stream coast in
Scotland.
Stewart Island has only 400 lucky residents and the only take up 3% of the island which is around the size of the Isle of Wight (40 x 24 miles) in this unspoilt nature reserve where there are no predators at all for the many birds that make their home here. Tomorrow we visit the off shore island of
Ulva where I hope to spot my first Kiwi. Tonight it was a superb meal at the local hotel and catch up with some sleep..
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| What's on telly daddy! |
Before the boat trip it was a chance to go around the island on a brief guided tour and see some of the lovely scenery and hear the stories and characters of this island. There are birds everywhere totally tame most of them - they are on the ground, sitting on fences and on roofs. I amused myself thinking of all the programmes I can remember on TV which had 'bird' in the title;
Liver Birds -
Birds of
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| A spot of gutter repairs |
a Feather -
Fortune Bird and somebody?- The
Thornbirds -
can you think of any??
They are so short of tradesmen on the island that any gutter repairs are carried out by the
Kea clan.
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| Want to do a trunk call! |
Costs are very reasonable - peanuts (or bird seed) really! There was a great telephone system here in the old days - you remember the one where you went through the local operator. Now we spotted one of the telephone boxes pinned on the trunk of a local tree with yellow pages attached - I could not help a giggle at how much we have progressed in a short time.
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A view of Oban and the uninhabited forests
as a backdrop |
We got some nice pictures of Oban and went off on our boat trip to the nature reserve of Ulva Island. Its only a couple of mile long but has some fantastic indigenous
plant species and bird life. We walked with a guide and he spotted some footprints in the sand - A kiwi was near - We waited and it was time to go, I lagged behind and then there it was crossing the path in front of me - I had seen my first Kiwi.
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| My first Kiwi |
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| My wooden horse on Ulva |
I was so exited I could hardly take a picture. I did get a lot of bush and trees as it scampered off and nobody believed I had spotted it but I did. I have added this stock picture of one just to show you what I saw - I also spotted a wooden horse in the forest as well. I was having a great day. On the way back we saw Albatross in the water, a lovely sight.
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| Albatross in the water |
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| Anchor at Lee Bay |
We went to see the other anchor stone in Lee Bay. The chain links and anchor stone also symbolise a history of inter-relationships that have given the peoples of Stewart Island/Rakiura a strong sense of heritage and identity. I get that sense as well, a remote place but united in the Kiwi spirit. Its a happy fun island to spend a few days, not just one day (two nights) as we have. I guess I will never return here so I am pleased I visited this unique part of NZ and saw my first Kiwi!
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| 2000 miles to Antarctica |
It's hard to believe that this Island is only 2000 miles from the icy
Antarctica. At this time of year it appears blissful and yet it can get pretty rough here with biting cold winds from the South - I am told there are sheltered spots around the coast where marine life take holidays from the tough world they exist within. This is a remoteness here and that is just in the small section we have seen. 97% is uninhabited and parts have never seen humans at all. An organised treck with guides that you can go to can take days and days of hard walking through temperate jungle terrain..
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| A last view of Stuart Island |
We return to the ferry for another calm crossing back to Bluff.
We were staying the night at a sheep farm (wonderful) before exploring the
Catlins region in the south east on our way to Dunedin for two days. Then onwards on the last two legs of our journey to Christchurch to end our NZ adventure..
Blog 27 to follow - DKT
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