It’s a lazy Sunday today! We decided to stay one more night and to have a day off after a long week full of hard work with driving, walking and taking pictures. We went to the Farmers‘ Market and bought sweetcorn (tasty stuff – I could live off it!), strawberries, plums, jam, chillies and lamb chops all fresh and of course only happy free range animals. It’s crazy the fresh stuff is cheaper than any packaged food. Same thing in the supermarket, better to go to the deli section than to buy it shrink-wrapped, the deli has better quality and is cheaper!
Yesterday we had a long, wonderful lovely day trip to Stewart and Ulva Islands. We got there with the smallest plane I’ve ever flown in. The flight was a bit shaky but impressive. They don’t fly at a great high, so you can see almost everything on the ground. The sun shone out of a blue sky with big white clouds on a dark blue ocean with small green and brown islands in it. Best of all there was a rainbow right in front of the plane, so we literally flew into the rainbow – great!
Arriving on Stewart Island we booked a water taxi to Ulva Island. It departed at 1 pm, so we had time to discover at least a small part of Stewart Island. We went on a walk through a wild and rough forest with old trees full of moss and thick bushes. The humid air smelled fresh and clean and there were birds singing and making noise everywhere. The walk was exhausting – uphill, downhill and uphill again. Finally we ended up sitting on a nice little pier, watching the gulls and eating some pears. I found a big snail house and oyster shells.
In time to catch the ferry we arrived in Golden Bay. E. immediately had a conversation with the captain and another Kiwi. Locals among themselves…
We made a short detour to watch birds and saw some huge Molly Hawks – some kind of albatross. I think I took at least one or two good pictures of them.
On Ulva Island we left the others to walk our own ways. We took only a few steps into the wood when the first little birds almost stepped on our feet. Taking pictures of them proved to be difficult because they hopped around pretty fast and there was not much light between the trees.
During our lunch break at the West End Beach we were stalked by Wekas – flightless chicken-like birds. I fed them with bits of an apple, which they picked out of my hand. Suddenly out in the bay we saw a seal with his catch, a big octopus. He was thrashing it on the water to tear the legs off. While he was eating a leg his pray drifted back down to the bottom of the sea and he dove to catch it again, so he Slowly moved across the bay until he was almost on the bank next to us. Amazing! I’ve never seen something like this before.
On our way back to the harbor we looked for shelter against the rain and ended up in Sydney Cove. It’s a nice little beach with a hut and some benches under the trees. Soon the rain stopped and the sun came back. I swang on a rope swing on the beach and, talking and laughing, we enjoyed the sun – what a wonderful afternoon.
By the the way don’t trust the weather forecast! They said rain and hail all day – we had approximately three minutes hail and three or four times a short shower of rain. All the rest of the day was perfect!
For our way home we chose the ferry instead of flying again. Compared to flying the boat trip to the mainland is of course a totally different experience. The big waves shook the boat and we had fun trying to stand without holding on to anything. Back on the mainland in Bluff we took the bus back to Invercargill. I was a bit grumpy because I was so hungry – breakfast and one sandwich for lunch is not much.
Thankfully Harry was alive and we went immediately into the city to find some food for me. E. suggested „Noodle Canteen“. They make good Chinese noodles for a good price. Full and satisfied I went to bed early.
