We spent the past three days on Stewart Island. This is as far south as either of us has ever been. Even though the weather was beautiful most of the time, you could tell, this would not be a pleasant place during the Winter. The people here are a hardy lot and friendly as anywhere we've been.
Our first night we stopped at a little fish-n-chips takeaway shack near our hostel. While there, a local was picking up a large order for his family and commented to the owner that it was going to be a brilliant sunset. We overheard him and agreed out loud. At this, he suggested we allow him to drive us up to Observation Rock to watch the sunset. Who were we to argue with such kindness?
As he drove us up a steep hill that I wasn't sure his car would even make it up, he explained that he runs a tour business on the island. They do boat tours, guided walks, etc. He pointed out his house on the way up the hill and then dropped us off at this beautiful lookout point about 10 minutes before the sunset. We were not the only ones to think of this. There were about a dozen people already there. My only regret ... I didn't have my camera, so no pictures. After watching a spectacular sunset, at nearly 9:50 p.m., we hiked back down the hill to our hostel. It didn't actually get dark until 10:20. Now this is a month past the solstice, so I can't even imagine how late it stayed light back in December.
The next day we took a hike out to Ackers Lighthouse. Not a strenuous hike, but a pleasant walk with lots of birds singing to us along the way.
Our last full day on the island, the weather turned a bit and so we decided to pull on our sweats and curl up with a book to read and a couple of bottles of wine. The only thing missing was a fire:)
All in all, I would recommend Stewart Island to anyone coming to New Zealand. However, there are some qualifiers to that!
- Go in the Summer
- Bring clothes as if it's Winter
- Bring and use lots of insect repellent (no mosquitos, but a 'brazillion' sandflies)
- Give yourself several days in case you hit some bad weather.
Finally, we lucked out in both directions with the ferry crossing. We had heard horror stories of the ferries actually turning around and heading back due to so many passengers getting seasick. It can be a brutal crossing in bad weather. Wellington to Picton can be bad, but the locals say that's a row on a lake compared to this. Neither of us is prone to seasickness, but why tempt fate. We got lucky and had very calm seas for both crossings. Let's hope that luck holds out tomorrow when we cross Lake Manapouri and then cruise out of Doubtful Sound!
Until then, happy hilking and gorgeous sunsets
Eric & Val
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