On the morning of the 28th we were very tired. We got up at 6:45am so we could pack and turn in our key. And we had to walk for more than 20 minutes to get to the bus stop (in the cold, of course). Our Intercity bus left Te Anau at 8am. It was a double-decker bus (we sat on top). We saw lots of birds on the road. We had a transfer in Gore, where we headed south to Invercargill. Our hostel was a short hike from the i-Site. It was a really nice hostel, in a little house and with a friendly owner.

We walked to the internet cafe and went online for 2 hours. I checked my e-mail and blogged (marathon blog entry!) and did other logistical things. I had our photos backed up on DVD while we went to Hell’s pizza for lunch. Their veggie pasta was really good, but the serving size was really small.

After that we went to the grocery store, and the post office. I mailed some postcards, and the stupid ATM gave me $300 in 10’s. We dropped off our groceries at the hostel and went to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery. Vanessa got to hold a Tuatara and meet Lindsay Hazley, and I did some xmas shopping. We also asked about Stewart Island activities.

We spent the evening talking with some Dutch travelers in the hostel. I hopped on the computer - The Brown Kiwi said that I could have my replacement bird prints sent there! Yay!!!

That night I slept really well. Our hostel was awesome, it was really quiet and the bed was fairly comfortable. I had a chocolate muffin for breakfast (yum!) and hopped on the computer for a few minutes. We left the hostel early with our packs loaded down with groceries, and waited at the i-Site for about an horu before our bus came. Campbeltown Passenger Service took us to Bluff (~20-30 min) where we checked in for the ferry. We were really lucky, the previous day the weather had been so bad they’d had to cancel, but that day was fine.

Vanessa and I stood out the back of the ferry in the rain with our binoculars identifying bird species like total dweebs. I saw a juvenile Shy Mollymawk and lots of Common Diving Petrels. There were also sea lions, one came really close to the boat.

Our socks and jeans were soaked by the time we got to the hostel. The place was ok, kind of big, but the rooms had shelves and heaters. There were Kaka (parrots. loud ones.) everywhere outside.

We went over to the DOC for info on local walks, and checked out the shops in town (yay, progress with xmas shopping!). Then I went through my pack and organized everything, as it had gotten knid of messy over the past few days. Had cheesy pasta for dinner and took a hot shower.

Kiwi food isn’t as good as American food. Their pizzas especially, they’re too small and have weird toppings. But with meals at reasturants you never get enough to eat, and they charge you too much for the small portions.

The next morning I was awakened by children and parrots. The two have more similarities than one might think.

After breakfast we decided to go hiking. We walked from Bragg Bay to Horseshoe Bay via Horseshoe Point. It was about 3.5 km and very easy, but we walked slowly because Vanessa’s knees were hurting (I think I broke her on this trip) and because I was diligently searching for Stewart Island Shags. There were lots of Dunnock and Redpolls along the way. It was mostly sunny, but with intermittant rain, so I tried to take some pictures of the pretty coves and beaches.

Horseshoe Point was an awesome birding spot. I found a Stewart Island (SI) Shag in the water, it looked like a miniature loon. We got really close looks at Shy Mollymawks as they followed the fishing boats that passed just udnerneath us. There were lots of Spotted Shags around as well, and lots of gulls harassing the fishing boats. There were several Red-crowned Parakeets in the bush along the trail. And the Tuis were as thick as the sandflies in Fiordland.

We hiked back from Horseshoe Bay and stopped for groceries. I went over to the DOC and checked the weather, since it was supposed to be sunny on Friday I booked a water taxi to Ulva Island.

I was exhausted and spent most of the evening trying not to fall asleep.

The next morning I was awakened by scuba divers who liked to slam doors at 6:30am. Do people learn manners anymore?

We hiked over the hill to catch our water taxi (Seabuzzz) at 9am. From Golden Bay it was about a 5 min ride to Ulva Island. The island is free of rats (all of SI is free of mustelids) and there are populations of Saddlebacks, NZ Robins, and Yellowheads on the island (unfortunately we were skunked by the Yellowheads again). Other birds we saw were Red- and Yellow-crowned parakeets, Kaka, Bellbird, SI Shag, and finally some nice looks at Brown Creeper. There were also Blue Penguins in the water offshore and penguin tracks in the sand on the beaches.

Every time we stopped or sat down we were harassed by Weka. I think they have radars for detecting people with snacks. One tried to jump in my lap and wound up sitting on the bench with us trying to reach across our laps to steal our biscuits. We got great photos of them by rattling a plastic wrapper - they come trotting right up when they hear that sound. One also hopped on our picnic table and tried to steal my peanuts. They certainly are persistant.

There were SI Shags along the coast - I got some nice looks at them on land and in the water. I spent lots of time with my head craned looking for Mohua, but without any luck. There were parrots absolutely everywhere, the Kaka liked to rip bark off of trees to look for bugs.

I think SI may have been formed by volcanic activity, instead of by glaciers like the south of Fiordland. There were tons of volcanic rocks there.

It started raining around lunchtime, and we were getting rather cold and wet so we headed back to the beach and hid under the shelter for awhile.

The track on the island was well-maintained and easy. There was lots of native fern and rimu forest, and some endangered plant species. All of the endangered birds on the island were banded - even the young ones.

Our water taxi picked us up at 3pm. We walked up to Observation Rock and stopped at a gallery called the Fernery - they had a really nice collection of art I couldn’t afford. I bought something small, I wish some of their art prints hadn’t been so expensive though. One artist I liked was Mary Taylor, hopefully I can look her up online later.

The lady at reception at our hostel let us swap rooms!! This was happy because after the children moved out, the NZ army moved in. My got they were loud. Vanessa was feeling sick and wanted to sleep all evening. I slept well (but I slept well most of the nights we were there).

In the morning I mailed some postcards and changed our ferry reservation to a day earlier. We decided to stay at Southern Comfort again on Dec 4th because it was nice and quiet there. That should make the morning of the 5th less stressful and let us get more sleep, too. I couldn’t reach the bus company though, so I was crossing my fingers that we could still get a ride.

Since Vanessa wasn’t feeling well I went hiking alone. I walked along the Ryan’s Creek Track, which took about 4 horus. The first part was failry easy and I saw lots of birdies (mainly Tui, Bellbird, and Tomtit). Once the track reached the coast though it turned to pure mud. My boots were caked, as were my last pair of clean-ish pants. There were some shags in the water but I didn’t see as many birds after that. It was a pretty hike - through ferns and native forest.

I went into town again after I got back. Apparently there had been a sea lion in town chasing people around the pub and the post office, but I didn’t see him. I made lunch, this took awhile because the army guys and the group of 8 Israelis all had kitchen monopolization problems. I wouldn’t say the hostel was worse than the one at Te Anau, but I was glad we cut our stay short.

On the 3rd we did nothing. I started at the wall for most of the afternoon. This was punctuated by periodic visits to the kitchen, but for the entirety of the morning and afternoon I was bored out of my mind. We did RP a little - we’re on our second book now.

At about 7pm we headed out to Ackers Point. At dusk the Blue Penguins and Muttonbirds (Sooty Shearwaters) came in to their burrows, and we wanted to see them. It was an easy 90-min walk out to the point.

We saw lots of pelagic birds before the sun went down. There were lots of Shy Mollymawk, some Whilte-fronted Terns and Spotted Shags, a few SI Shags, Sootys, and Blue Penguins, and one Cape Pigeon. Yay, lifer!

We listened for Kiwi on the way back, but didn’t hear any. We did see a possum, a rat, and some other strange introduced mammal thing that ran very fast. And bats! And the moon was nearly full, it was so bright we could see our shadows. It was still light enough to see without a headlamp when we got back at 11pm. It will be nice to have short, normal-length days again soon.

On the morning of the 4th we stayed in bed until after 9am. I was tired. We had to be out of the room by 10am though, so we got up and packed.

Most of the time between then and our ferry departure (3:30pm) was spent in the hostel lounge RP’ing. The army guys were all there watching TV, of course. I made pasta for lunch. so I wouldn’t have to carry the extra pasta jar.

The seas on the ferry were really rough. Not anticipating this I didn’t take my meds, and wound up throwing up. That was fun. The crew on the boat was on the ball about it though, they had towels and extra bags ready for me (yes, I made the bag). Fortunately the ferry ride was only an hour so it was over quickly.

There was no problem with the bus and we were dropped off right at our hostel. We met a bontanist from Newfoundland on the ride who told me a little about NZ tree ferns (that’s where the silver fern comes from).

I still felt sick when we arrived and I severely needed food so I cooked myself something to eat while Vanessa went grocery shopping. I hopped on the internet for a few minutes as well. Then I washed some laundry, although everything we own was dirty and the washer was really small so we’re going to have to wash stuff again soon.

Neither of us slept well that night. I had a combination of stomach uckiness and too much pent-up energy from doing nothing all day. I finally fell asleep, but it was really really late.

I got up at about 9am. We’d elected to hang our clothes to dry in the room instead of paying for a dryer, and of course they hadn’t finished drying yet. I packed and had toast and tea for breakfast. We headed over to the i-Site at about 10am, and our tour bus (the Catlins Coaster) left around 10:30.

The tour took us to Dunedin via the Southern Scenic Route through the Catlins. There were only 4 of us on the bus, which was nice. We stopped at a lighthouse and saw NZ Sea Lions (Hooker’s) and I collected paua shells. There was a male sea lion following a female sea lion, but she wasn’t interested. There were alos a whole bunch of idiot tourists walking right up to the sea lions, but no one got chased down or bit.

We stopped at Curio Bay for lunch. We were given a short guided walk there, the lady told us how the Maori used flax for everything and showed us the gum inside the flax that works as an insect repellent. She took us down to an ancient petrified forest that was buried by ash and lava. It was right on the coast, the waves were splashing over the petrified trees. Ferns were imprinted in some of the rocks.

We also stopped at a pretty waterfall, and then went to another lighthouse at Nugget Point.The point itself was really pretty - there were huge rocks sticking out of the water and their strata were vertical. If you looked through binoculars at the rocks you could see fur seals way way up along the sides and the top. They’re rock-climbing fur seals!!

Near Nugget Point was a hide where you could view Yellow-eyed Penguins. We got there at a perfect time - we saw three! They were walking along the beach and in the grass up to their burrows. This time of year they have chicks so the parents take turns going to feed during the day. The penguins were big compared with the Blues and had yellow irises (on the adults).

We got to Dunedin at about 7:30pm and were dropped off at our hostel, the Elm Lodge. It was ok, a nice old house, and there were only girls there the first night. It wasn’t the cleanest place and the walls were paper but there was a jacuzzi and a local phone (YAY!).