southland part 2-Stewart Island/Rakiura

kutz0027
Jun 10, 2024
3 min read

Night kiwi finding tour! Turns out there was just one spot left when I was looking, so I bought it. We all know Josh is the better person in this relationship, and he would have at least offered me the spot to go...but did I offer it to anyone? Nope. Sorry, babe.

Now it's Frankie's turn to write-

Breakfast with Auntie Moni! Do you see her head on the chair?

There was a tiny playground-this slide barely fitted me.

Same park. It was fun just staring at the water.

(Talk about a park with a view)

Magda was sitting while me and Lucy were playing chess.

(They played checkers on a big ole chess board-super fun! Photo further down!)

Woods. Mom made us go on a hike.

(It was called the Fuchsia track, I was hoping to see some giant fuchsias -they grow into trees here! It is amazing. But not currently flowering, since we are basically in winter.)

Magda and Lucy sticked their butts out at us.

(We spied some non native animals strutting their stuff.)

Us. On the hike.

(Such a bunch of cuties!)

Lucy and me on one of the Stewart Island beaches.

(You can't bring a car to the island-but our accomodation included the use of a car, so we got to visit all the beaches!)

This is Maui's chain. Mom, is this Maui's chain?

(Technically Maui's anchor! According to Māori folklore, the South Island was demigod Māui’s canoe (te waka a Māui) and Rakiura (Maori name of Stewart Island) was the canoe’s anchor stone. The sculpture is formally known as te puka (the anchor stone).

Rakiura is the commonly known Māori name. It is usually translated as "Glowing Skies", a reference to the aurora australis, the southern lights that are a phenomenon of southern latitudes. Sadly, we didn't see any while we were on the island...but it was great clear nights for stargazing!)

More chain.

Kiwi sign!

We met a really cute puppy.

Can you see daddy?

Here is a hint...

Albatross

(We went on a tour of Ulva island, a predator free island near Stewart, and it was such fun!)

This is Bob Jr, an Albatross. We got a really close up look. See the eyeshadow?

(There was Bob, Bob Jr, Tina, and Tina Jr., according to the children.)

Still Bob Jr.

This is when we were on the tour. We were on a boat. The captain's name was Dan. We called him uncle Dan.

These are some shags.

(Also knows as cormorants)

More shags.

This is a sea lion that was sunbathing.

We were on the beach with the sea lion. Carley was our tour guide.

(Carley was such a wealth of information!! We saw some of the more rare birds that aren't seen elsewhere in New Zealand-yellow heads (cute little cluster of bright yellow birds), and saddlebacks.)

This is the hike.

We were sitting on a bench. Snack time!

Another beach.

More trail.

(Van/Violet was done.)

More trail.

(Check out Van's ride!)

A hollow tree

(And it's still alive! With leaves!)

Reading time.

(So funny to see these two all interested in the celeb magazines)

We found a boat on the beach.

Mom and dad are bring cruel right now.

m-why??

f-cause look at the picture. magda was sitting outside the window and mom was holding beer. mom and dad didn't let us go in.

(Let it be known that no one said they couldn't come in. Just that we were going to have a drink and no, we weren't going to buy them a drink.)

Beautiful sunset.

(I took a hike at dusk to see if I could see blue penguins-there is a colony at Acker's point, there is a lovely hike out to a lookout and lighthouse, but unfortunately I didn't see any penguins! Not close enough to the water! But I am pretty sure I heard some!)