Invercargill, New Zealand, 25-26 March 2008
Invercargill, Hmm, not too much to say about this place. A large working class town that is more interested in getting on with life than prettying itself up for tourists who stop off here en route to Stewart Island. Damn right too... miserable old gits! The hostel was lovely though, which was good as we soon discovered that the ferry for Stewart Island was fully booked for the following day and we'd have to hang around "beautiful Invercargill" for an additional night. "Why are you going to Stewart Island?" I hear you say. Well, it's like this. We never realised how uncommon it is to see Kiwi birds roaming free in the wild. Gary & Nualla were the first ones to tell us that they've been in NZ for over 40 years (Garry & Nualla, not the Kiwis) and never seen one. As we travelled we met more and more people who told us the same story. Well this to us as intrepid travellers was like a red rag to a bull. Our nostrils were flaring & the gauntlet had well & truly been thrown down. Research was undertaken, advice was sought & finally we determined that Mason Bay on Stewart Island offered us the best chance of seeing these elusive little birds in the wild.
Once we arrived on Stewart Island things got a little more complicated. In order to get to Mason Bay we had to charter a water taxi at $200 (which can only goes at high tide) to take us to Freshwater Landing. From here it was a 4 hour hike to Mason Bay. Fortunately high tide hadn't already come and gone. Unfortunately it was at 6pm. Luckily our taxi driver got us in earlier (so we got to the DOC Hut just as it was turning dark). The walk across this section of Stewart Island was the muddiest hike we have been on to date and trust me, we've seen some quality mud. Then as if things couldn't get any worse, we met an English couple who'd stayed at the hut 2 nights already & had been out morning & evening scouting for Kiwi & hadn't seen a thing.
The following morning we had the alarm set for 7am but I, Dave, couldn't sleep and so went out in total darkness at 5:30am. I couldn't believe it when after 5 minutes I came across my first Kiwi. I was stunned, amazed, flabbergasted. By the time I'd come to my senses he'd toddled off into the bushes. Hmm. I had no evidence of having actually seen anything. Who would ever believe?? At least I would know.... no that simply wasn't good enough "must find more Kiwi". Thankfully it wasn't long before I came across a few more on the trail. The fact that it was pitch dark didn't help with my video or photo efforts. Then I remembered that the camera had an infra red night vision function and I managed to get some excellent footage of one before he too scampered. At this stage I thought I'd better go back and wake Claire, she asked no questions but immediately jumped into action.
Back down at "the good spot" we heard some rustling in the bushes. We simply stood there and watched until the largest most perfect Kiwi of the lot came right up to our feet, sniffed about & then waddled off down the trail. Claire was now suffering from the same degree of awe & shock that I felt on my first sighting. She fumbled with the camera & didn't managed to get a shot off. The we took a walk down to the beach to enjoy an incredible sunrise. Our mission had been a success. We walked the four hours back to Freshwater Landing through the rain through even muddier conditions. It was grueling. About 30 minutes before the end Claire spotted another Kiwi in broad daylight ( we thought it was a myth that you could actually see them in broad daylight). We never envisioned ourselves as bird watchers crouching in the darkness in some strange southern coastline but when we saw these strange birds playing hard to get - plodding, darting, hiding, re-appearing - we knew we had experienced something unique.
Our hostel in Oban was great, boy did we need it. I, Dave, had come down with the sniffles so Claire collected some fish & chips & a bottle of red. Recovery underway. As the weather appeared to have changed we brought our departure from Stewart Island forward to 8am. The alarm was set for 6:45am but lo and behold we didn't hear it and got up at 7:50am. F**k! There was stuff everywhere in the room. I started grabbing anything & everything & shoving it into the rucksack. We ran like lunatics, someone must have been looking down on us because we practically had to jump on the ferry as it left the harbour. Miracle of miracle & we waved goodbye to Stewart Island.
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