We are on a 6-week road trip around the South Island of New Zealand (NZ) in our motorhome. Having just driven the Southern Scenic Route, we arrived in Bluff at the southern end of New Zealand. We were there to visit Stewart Island.
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| The settlement at Oban, Stewart Island, NZ |
After spending a night in Bluff, we parked at the Bluff Ferry Terminal, and caught an early ferry to the Island where we disembarked in Oban the main settlement there. We were immediately captured by this small quaint village, and picturesque beach.
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| Stewart Island beach (top), Track and Leigh on beach at Ulva Island |
We walked the short distance to the Stewart Island Backpackers where we had a simple and colourful room. After unpacking, we walked around this wee town, admired the beach, then walked up over the hill to Golden Bay. We were there to catch another ferry; this one to Ulva Island, off Stewart Island.
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| Quaint ferry to Stewart Island's Ulva Island |
Ulva is a 10-minute boat ride on a very quaint old ferry. We were heading to the island because of its reputation for walks among unspoiled flora and native birds. The walking tracks are well-formed and marked, and as we made our way around the island, we found it to be really peaceful.
It is a wonderful environment for endangered birds, and we saw several of the cute little robins/toutouwai that are very inquisitive and hop around your feet.
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| NZ Native parrot, the kākā on Ulva, Stewart Island, NZ |
We then came across several native parrots/kākā making a huge noise, and got really close to them. We also saw tūī, tomtit/ngirungiru, fantail/pīwakawaka, grey warbler/riroriro, and NZ Wood Pidgeon/kererū. We heard saddlebacks/tīeke and bellbirds/korimako, but they remained out of sight unfortunately.
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| Nosey weka aiming for Marg's phone on Ulva Island, NZ |
After a few hours of walking, we had lunch sitting on a small sandy beach where we were visited by a very inquisitive weka/woodhen. It headed for Marg’s backpack and phone, then fossicked around in the sand at Leigh’s feet. These nosey, native flightless birds were in abundance on the Island and we even saw some in their nest.
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| The weather closing in on Stewart Island, NZ |
Back on Stewart Island that evening, we walked out to buy dinner and noticed that the wind was getting up, the harbour was becoming rough, and rain was pending.
We had dinner at the South Seas pub, the only place in town to get a meal apart from buying something from the 4-Square store! It Quiz night and busy, but luckily, we got a table. The food was great and we returned the next morning for breakfast. By then, it was raining and windy, so we caught an early ferry back to Bluff.
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| More of the Southern Scenic Route, NZ |
After collecting our motorhome from the Bluff ferry terminal, we picked up the Southern Scenic Route. This is a scenic road trip through the Catlins, a picturesque area along the southern coast. The narrow road wound up, down and around in the very wet weather, and we passed many sightseeing places without stopping. Then, in a break in the rain, we reached McLean Falls.
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| Marg at the beautiful McLean Falls, The Catlins, Southland, NZ |
We walked through beautiful native trees to see these pretty falls. They come through a narrow opening at the top, then fall in several widening cascades to reach the river below.
Returning to our motorhome, we drove up the road and found the Whistling Frog Café and Campsite and decided to say for the night. We visited the café for dinner and somehow, got the last serving of pork spare ribs which we enjoyed with a very nice wine. It was a good way to finish a long, wet day.
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The next day, we drove to the Cathedral Caves. After parking, we paid to cross through private land, then walked downhill through beautiful bush full of birdsong, to arrive at Waipati Beach. Just along the beach was Cathedral Caves, two impressively high passages carved by waves, into a 160-million-year-old Jurassic sandstone cliff that soars more than 30 metres above the beach. We marvelled at their impressive size.
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| Purakaunui Falls, The Catlins, Southland, NZ |
Our next top was Purakaunui Falls. These falls are one of the most photographed waterfalls in NZ and are on a NZ stamp. We walked through dense and wet bush, passing lots of rushing water to reach the falls. It cascades down over three tiers but we felt it didn’t quite live up to the hype. I guess we expected more water after so much rain.
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| The bowstring bridge in Balclutha, NZ |
The weather continued to be really wet and limited our sightseeing so we drove on. Then we arrived in Balclutha (pop around 4.000), and admired its historic bowstring bridge across the Clutha River that dates back to 1935.
Leaving there, we headed to the Otago Peninsula on the south-eastern coast of NZ to visit the Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head, but you can read about that in the next blog.
This is part of a bigger blog on our travels around the South Island of New Zealand. The first blog is called NZ's South Island in a motorhome.