Stewart Island

After Nicky and I finished the Milford Track, we drove out to Queenstown to meet up with the 3 American sisters we'd met on the track.  After we'd all taken ridiculously long, hot and luxurious showers, we met up and had our first Fergburgers (ginormous burgers that are soooo good: Fergburger ) before heading over to the Buffalo Club for some drinks.  Whilst us 5 girls were reminiscing about our trek, two guys came over and asked if we were playing card games (which we were) and then introduced themselves and joined us.  These two boys were Matt and Dougall.  Dougall lives in Dunedin and once we figured out we both knew the same people who frequented No. 7 Balmac, we became bestest buddies.  

Oban Township looking towards NZ

Nicky and I drove back to Dunedin the following afternoon after brunch with the American sisters and made plans to head to Stewart Island shortly.  A couple weeks later, we both had Tuesday off and figured Tuesdays were great days to spend on Stewart Island so we decided to catch the last boat on Monday over to the southernmost island in New Zealand.  In the meantime, we had kept in touch with Dougall and on a whim we asked if he wanted to join us in our touristy quest.  Sunday he asked his boss if he could have Tuesday off and leave work early on Monday.  His boss was sweet with that, so Monday afternoon the 3 of us piled into Dougall's subaru and raced to Bluff to catch our ferry.

After a lovely hour boat ride to Oban, the only township on Stewart Island, population almost 400, we checked into our backpackers and found the only bar/restaurant open for dinner.  We chatted with the bar manager (who was from Los Angeles and had moved to Stewart Island about 3 years earlier) and learned that Osama Bin Laden had been killed (yes, I realize how far behind in my blog posts I am...).  After closing down the bar (it couldn't have been later than 10pm), we went back to the backpackers and got ready for bed.  We were all staying in the same room so Nicky and I were definitely hoping that Dougall wasn't a serial killer.  But in case he was, I was hoping he'd attack Nicky first so I could run.

One of many lovely views from a hill top - and Dougall

The next morning we decided to rent scooters and traverse the island.  85% of the island is National Park that you can't access unless you go on a 5-10 day tramp so that left a manageable area that was easily visited if you rented scooters for half the day.  We started out exploring the eastern end of the township and visiting all the short walks to gorgeous views.  We visited Ackers Point, where there was a lighthouse, and the beach that Lewis Acker (an American whaler) built his house on.  It must be nice to have first dibs on a beautiful and secluded beach for you and your family to live on.

Ackers Point Light House - and the trusty tourists

At the Acker beach: enjoying the views and being photographically artistic with driftwood

Intrepid Scooterists

After that we scootered over past Halfmoon Bay (where Oban is located) to the chains that hold Stewart Island to mainland New Zealand.  There are also chains on the South Island at Bluff since Stewart Island is the anchor for Maui's canoe.  Maui, in Maori legend, fished up the 'Great Fish', the North Island, from his canoe, the South Island, and Stewart Island was the anchor.  All anchors need chains, eh?  These chains are large sculptural pieces that make for a fun playground and photo opps.  


We continued to scooter along past an old public pay phone and along other random roads.  I, unfortunately, wiped out at one point because a turn we were planning to take came up really quick.  After I decided to take it realized I was going too fast and tried not to take it... but alas, my indecision left me in a heap on the gravel with the scooter.  I was more upset that I would have to pay to replace parts of the scooter, but fortunately they'd been used so much before you couldn't really tell I'd done anything new to it!  Phew!!  However my hand was bleeding and my blood sugar had plummeted so we returned our scooters and got lunch.

The Chains - my fave pic of Dougall and Nicky - Proof I was there too

We caught the early afternoon ferry back to Bluff and since we were there, we took pictures at the other side of the chain and the signpost at the southern end of the 1 motorway.  I have now officially been to the top and bottom of the 1 motorway in New Zealand.  Although I haven't been to the geographical northernmost and southernmost points, I've been to the recognized locations and that's just fine by me!

The signpost at Bluff - Our traveling threesome - The Bluff-side chains

On our way back to Dunedin we drove through the Catlins because Dougall said they were cool and pretty.  Sadly, Dougall forgot to account for sunset so we didn't see much.  However, we had a fabulous roadtrip back with good tunes and a lovely new friend who has since joined us for rugby games, parties, dinners, and helped me and Nicky with our cars and the problems they've developed.  Who says you can't meet a nice guy in a bar?