March 2 thru 4 (back with internet access)

Thursday, March 2

This morning we woke up in Invercargill and found ourselves a coffee at the local aquatic center.  The cafe was called the Liquid Cafe – get it?  We left most of our luggage with Dorothy at the motel and called Helen, the cab driver who transported us from the airport last night, to ask for a ride back to the airport.  Invercargill is a small airport.  We were booked on Stewart Island Flights, which runs a 10 seater (including the pilot) plane back and forth to Stewart Island.  It’s a 20 minute flight.  There were two flights leaving at the same time.  Our ticket said that we were on the blue plane.

We landed on a small air strip, the pilot did a u-turn to bring us to the waiting minibus that would take us to Oban village, which is the main center on Stewart Island.  Most of the island is a national park – Rakiura national park.  We visited the Department of Conservation office to get the scoop on some walks and then the local museum to get the history of Stewart Island.  After that we were hungry.  We lunched at the South Seas hotel, which had been recommended to us (via email) by Greg, the local cab driver, who was going to give us an island tour.

After lunch, we met Greg, a 6th generation, Stewart Islander.  He is descended from one of the original Māori families, as well as from an American whaler.  He took us on a tour of the local bays and all the best lookout spots. Greg seems connected to everyone here.  There are only 400 people on Stewart Island and it seemed like he knew them all, their names, and their children’s names.  In addition to running the local taxi company, he runs an excavator company, does concrete work, and helps his brother moving crayfish (not sure if there is a technical distinction, but crayfish are approximately the size of lobster) and blue cod pots.  These ‘pots’ are cages that fishing trawlers take out to sea to catch fish.  Blue cod and crayfish, paua (abalone), and green-lipped mussels are a big part of Stewart Island’s economy (along with tourism).

After our drive around, Greg took us to the drop off point for the Tokoeka PurePod.  Tokoeka (pronounced toe-ko-ekah) is named after the southern brown kiwi.  It is located in the Mamaku Point Conservation Reserve, which abuts Rakiura National Park on the northeast coastline of Stewart Island.  the rugged 172 hectare headland contains an extraordinary variety of flora including some of the oldest podocarp forest in the country, and is a thriving habitat to over 128 native species, including 26 native bird species – we heard a great many birds.

Prior to November 2000, the land that is now the Conservation Reserve was farmed with sheep and cattle.  In 2000, the land was purchased with a view to creating a bio reserve.  The land changed hands again in 2017 and is currently owned by the Mamaku Point Conservation Trust. 

To  get to our accommodation, we had to go through a double, predator-proof fence with a code and then wind our way through the forest.  (“Predator” in this context is any bird-eating or egg-eating small mammal or any vegetation-eating mammal.  The goal is to protect native flora and fauna from invasive species.) 

The reserve is protected by the predator-proof fence across the 2.1 km back of the headland, and an extensive bio security grid both inside and outside the predator-proof fence.  Both the fence and the grid are monitored real-time using a combination of VHF, cellular and satellite communications to ensure any bio security breaches are detected immediately.

Our PurePod is a glass eco-cabin nestled in the forest.  It is powered primarily by solar panels, backed up with propane.  We have heating and cooking facilities, a hot shower and toilet facilities, lighting and a fridge.  The water supply is filtered.  Wastewater goes into a biological filtration technology powered by tiger earthworms.  All designed to be comfortable while minimizing ecological footprint.

As we write this we are sitting on the front porch of our pod enjoying a gorgeous view and listening to native bird song.  It really doesn’t get much better.

Angie has dropped off a hamper of local food for us to cook, we don’t think we can mess it up, it all looks delicious.  There is a storm expected in tonight.  It’ll be a shame if we can’t see the night sky through our glass roof, but we really won’t be too put out if we just have to hang around here tomorrow!

March 3, 2023

We fell asleep last night to the sound of the waves.  We woke up during the night to see the moon and the stars and to look for kiwis.  The moon and stars were in place (we are in the southernmost Dark Sky Sanctuary in NZ), but the kiwis were more elusive.  We’ll have another opportunity tonight.  We are surrounded by birdsong and we are getting better at spotting the birds, but our photography needs works.  They are a bit fast for us.

This morning we set off to the Garden Mound Track, a trail that started at Lee Bay and climbed through the native bush.  The trail shares the same beginning with the Rakiura Great Walk, which is a 3 day walk, and one of NZ’s flagship walks.  We haven’t done this, but we have much enjoyed many of the others (when we were younger, and fitter).

There were some interesting medallions in the ground as we started out, recognizing the uniqueness of life on the Island.   It was Frances’ favorite kind of hike – some ocean views and lots of ferns.  We had one trekking pole apiece, which was perfect. 

We arrived back at our pod some 3 hours later to find that Angie had been and gone, restocking our fridge.

We had just arrived back when the skies opened and it deluged.  It was a perfect afternoon for a nap.  We are enjoying watching the ever-changing sea and light and listening to the birdsong from the inside of our comfortable pod.  We appreciated the glass shower – lots of hot water and good pressure, surrounded by native bush and birds.  Dinner was local venison, we cooked inside because there was another downpour at dinnertime, even the vegetarian had to try it.  Passion fruit fudge for dessert.

Jim got up in the night to take a long exposure of the night sky through our glass roof.

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Today we walked around the bays and into town.  It started out quite crisp (and a bit damp) so we used all our layers.  We stopped in along the way to the Moturau Moana Gardens, which were established by Miss Noeline Baker in the 1930s.  She was from Christchurch, where her father was chief surveyor for Canterbury.  She was widely traveled and owned property in both NZ and England, and was a suffragist. She settled on Stewart Island and created a garden of NZ native plants.  We enjoyed her legacy.

We had in mind to get some fish and chips from the Blue Kai Cart for lunch (recommended as the best ever), but when we got there it was closed.  We were later advised that there was a big local wedding and most of the local businesses had closed so that they could be wedding goers.  Good for them!

We visited the local woolen shop, The Glowing Sky, all garments designed and made in NZ.  Then we headed to the pub for a well-earned hard cider- Cloudy Macs – and Stewart island Blue Cod and chips (fries).

We decided to cheat and call Greg, our cab friend, instead of getting home under our own steam – and in the rain.  Magically, we could get reception at the pub.  As it happened, he was free and swung by to give us a lift back to the pod.  Frances was just putting on her backpack when a bee must have had the same idea.  She was stung on her finger.  Jim took the stinger out with a credit card. 

Once back at the pod, the finger became very painful and swollen.  Jim, who is our traveling doctor, did not have an antihistamine in his kit, but called Greg, (magically again we had reception). Greg picked up some antihistamine from the local general store and brought it out when he was next out this way.  This is as full service as it gets.  Jim met him on the road.  Frances is healing nicely. (More on the bee sting recovery in future posts.)

The only thing we are missing is seeing a kiwi.  We are hopeful that tonight is the night!  And, if not, we have one more chance when we visit Ulva Island tomorrow.