Sun, Sandflies and Stairs on Stewart Island

Hey Everyone. We keep hoping to download more pictures for you to look at, but finding places that will let you connect your camera is proving a little more difficult than we thought it would be, so for now we'll just send stories and when we find a place well catch you up with the pictures.

Stewart Island was fantastic. Once again we lucked out with the weather. It rains 250 days of the year there, but two of the days it was just beautiful and the first day it only drizzled a little, which actually was nice for hiking. We did a 3 day hike that is a loop around part of the island. A lot of the trail was boardwalk because the island is notorious for its mud. The second day was a workout because of all of the stairs. Someone who had done the hike before us wrote an entry in the log book that they stopped counting at 3,000, but that there must be at least 5,000! My calves are still aching. There were tons of unusual birds and bird calls and lots of beautiful lush green bush. Some of the plants look like they should be found in the NW, like the fern tree and others look really tropical with huge leaves. It was even warm enough that the second day we went swimming in the ocean.

The hut system here is pretty different from camping at home. It's kind of strange to be hiking all day and then come to a fully equipped house in the middle of nowhere with mattresses and running water! Not that I'm complaining or anything, it just makes for pretty cushy camping and a much lighter pack since you dont have to pack in a tent, or mattress pad or anything. Both huts we stayed in were right on the water.

The best think about the trip was the people that we met. There was a great couple from Tasmania, Kym and Graham and a really nice couple from Ontario, Sue and Steph, who we shared the huts with along the way as well as good conversations. Kym and Graham had rented a holiday house for after the trip and they invited all of us to come stay there after the hike was over. It was a beautiful place with huge windows and a porch that looked out over the harbour. We felt spoiled! (Thanks Kym and Graham if you are reading this, we'll be keeping our eyes open for that Tasmanian Devil microbrew : ))

Sue and Steph knew tons about birds and we went with them to a bird sanctuary on Ulva Island, just off of Stewart Island where they taught us some good tips on bird watching. On Ulva they have managed to eradicate all of the non-native predators such as rats, cats and possums so the native bird species are able to live like they used too. They make you check your backpacks for rats when you get off the boat. The birds there are everywhere, we saw the Tui, bellbird, saddleback (very rare), Oystercatchers, the NZ robin, several kinds of parrots and tons more. One bird, the Weka is a flightless bird that looks kind of like a Kiwi and it would come right up to you and peck at the insects around your feet. Its a tiny island and we thought 3 hours would be plenty, but we could have stayed for a whole day and still seen new things!

The worst thing about the trip was the sandflies! Tiny black flies that like to nibble on humans and leave little welts like mosquitos. Not as bad as Hozomeen in the summer, but still a bit annoying if you stayed in one place to long.

Now we are in Te Anau planning our next treck in the Fiordlands and Mt. Aspiring National Parks. It will be a five day loop that will include the famous Routeburn Track. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the weather. It's raining pretty good here now, making it feel even more like home. We will start on the 22nd and come out on the 26th so hopefully we will meet some nice people on the way to spend Christmas with that last night on the trail.

We love and miss you all! Have a great Christmas!