Stewart Island Day Walk

 01 January 2015

Team: Mark, Spike, Me

Our holiday planning for our trip to the Catlins was nearly complete when Mark sprung on me the idea "we could go to Stewart Island". Wow. I hadn't even thought about the fact we were coming out of the Catlins in Invercargill - probably as close as we are going to get to Stewart Island for a long time coming.

We wanted to stay overnight, but the cost was prohibitive with a toddler, so we opted to do a day return instead, and just explore Oban and Patterson Inlet.

In the morning, it was cool and overcast. We wandered up from the wharf to the DoC office, where the lovely lady behind the desk highlighted half a dozen potential walks we could do as a family, either with Spike walking, or with us carrying him. We picked the longest for filling in the morning before our scheduled boat trip and headed off up the hills behind the town.

Our first bit of bush was a lovely reserve between the town and the rugby club. Then it was on, up the rather steep roads to the lookout at the top. Incredibly, after this Spike refused to get back into the backpack, and so walked all the way down the not-as-steep side of the hill, across the rugby ground and all the way to the end of the road, looking in to Patterson Inlet before deciding he was tired and wanted back into the backpack after all. During this time we saw a pair of kaka in the trees, which was rather magical.



Back up and over the saddle, through the reserve again and down onto the waterfront for lunch.

In the afternoon, as part of our Patterson Inlet cruise, we enjoyed a guided nature walk on Ulva Island, which is a bird sanctuary. Spike was very tired by this stage, so opted to stay in the backpack, where the slow pace and our guides lovely voice soon had him fast asleep. We got to see a whole range of unique plant species, and got up close and personal with a Robin. It was lovely.



After all that walking and Spike carrying, we were tired, so we opted to do a bus trip around the parts of the settlement we hadn't yet had a chance to see before we headed home.