Stewart Island

The ferry ride to get from Bluff (at tip of the South Island) to Stewart Island was terribly rocky, and people were getting sick left and right (yes, some threw up). It's an hour-long ride, too. There was a storm going on so we couldn't see much outside of the windows with the crashing waves and rain. I usually don't get seasick, but I did this time and almost lost it. The boat was battered hard several times by big waves -- I suddenly had even more sympathy for the people who immigrated to New Zealand via a three-month boat ride that we had just learned about at the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin. There's a recreation of the sleeping quarters there -- no windows, just a small hard bunk.

little town of Oban, the only on Stewart Island

We made it to the hostel (a small, quaint place where they don't even give you keys because there is a trust policy that seems to work alright) after toting our luggage in the rain and later headed down to the dock again to see the little blue penguins come in for the night. There were only three, but they were cute to watch as they swam up then hurriedly slipped behind the rocks to make it to their hidden nests on shore. We came back the next day too and saw three again, but one did a little show and jumped off a rock into the water before disappearing.

 

The next day we lingered in the hostel waiting for the rain to let up. We darted over to the visitor center, me trying in futile to use an umbrella and having it not work at all and then expressing my anger at NZ weather. I'm not a fan of being wet. By mid-day the rain had cleared enough that we suited up in our rain gear and went out for a walk along one of the shore paths. It was nice enough and we saw some NZ birds along the way and some cool seaweed on the rocks. At dusk, we went to a nearby area that is known for kiwi sightings, but unfortunately we didn't get to see any -- just lots of other birds hunting for worms in the rain-soaked field. The short rainforest trail we took was cool though, and haunting at night. It's nice to not have to worry about predators here.

 

naughty kea birds about to be fed on someone's porch

New Zealand wood pigeon (so big!)

rainforest walk

 

treated ourselves to fish & chips after the hike

The ferry back the next day was much better and calmer. We all stood at the back in the fresh air to avoid the claustrophobic feeling of the cabin, and it seemed to work and no one got sick this time.

Melbourne: Phillip Island and Penguin Parade

We took a full day tour out to Phillip Island, about a 90-minute drive from the central city of Melbourne, and home to the famous Penguin Parade of little blue penguins. It was a full and fun day seeing animals and not having to worry about transportation or what to do next. Sometimes that’s nice when you’re on vacation. This was also a gift that we prebooked.

At the Maru Wildlife Park we got to pet wallabies and kangaroos and see several other Australian animals in a small area. We saw our first joey in its pouch, and since we were there early, all of the wallabies and kangaroos actually were interested in the food that others had purchased to feed them and were a lot friendlier than the saturated animals in Brisbane! The joey was very cute, and it was also funny how its mom dragged it along, claws out and all, as she moved around.

How cute is this little joey!!

Koala

Kookaburras

Dingoes

Snapped one of this fella mid-eating :)

:-)

 

Sleeping Tasmanian devil

Pretty peacock strutting around the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure

We had lunch at a little beach area and then had a brief stop at a chocolate factory. It was a total tourist trap with high prices for the big gift shop and café. Nothing is as good as Whittaker’s chocolate here in NZ to me anymore anyway.

Next our tour guide drove around the far end of the island to look for wildlife and try to spot some penguins in their burrows. The wind was bitingly cold, but I am more used to it since living in Christchurch weather so was able to tolerate it pretty well. We saw some wild wallabies and lots of wild Cape Barren geese and beautiful coastline, which reminded me of California.

wild wallaby

little blue penguin in its burrow

Cape Barren goose

another little blue penguin

This is where you go after dark to watch the penguin parade.
No photos are allowed but this meant we could enjoy it without worrying about photos.

Once at the Penguin Parade when the sun was almost setting, we ate our packed dinner and headed to the stands out on the beach to watch the penguins come in after a day at sea. There were several groups of them that came in and they were so cute! The seagulls were a bit of an obstacle, standing menacingly in their way, and the penguins made several attempts before finally going up. Then they were flooding the hills past the beach as they dried off near their burrows. They were talking a lot (sounded like ducks or babies) and their sounds filled the air. On the walk back, we also saw a possum with its big eyes (they look very different from North American possums), but they are herbivores and won’t eat the penguins (cats and foxes will though). I was still hungry when we got back at night, so we roamed the streets and wound up getting Korean fried garlic chicken - it didn't taste that different from regular though.

Gisborne and Napier

Gisborne was just a stopping point on the journey from Tauranga to Napier. The weather cleared up as we were leaving, so we took some photos with the famous Cook statues on the waterfront and headed out.

This is Cook's crew boy who first spotted New Zealand land.

Gisborne waterfront on a nice day

Napier is known for being an art-deco city since it was rebuilt in the 1930s after an earthquake devastated it. It definitely felt like something out of The Great Gatsby with the fonts and styles. We first visited the National Aquarium which was small but allowed us to get our first real sighting of a kiwi!! They switch its day and night (since it's a noctural bird) so visitors can see it out and about. No flash allowed, so my best photo is more like a Loch Ness sighting! Everyone was crowding the glass trying to get a photo of it, so I decided to enjoy seeing it with my own eyes. I doubt anyone but professionals gets a good shot of them. But it was a very strange creature, like something out of the Alice in Wonderland movie, poking its long beak around in the dirt and sort of waddling around in a funny way. I can see why it has trouble surviving in a world of mammal predators.

We also saw the little blue penguins New Zealand is famous for. They were all rescues and very cute. The color is more of a greenish tint.

One thing Napier was definitely lacking was many places to eat for dinner. By the time we had left the aquarium in the late afternoon, there was nothing open downtown. We couldn't find anything good at Pak N Save, so we finally had to settle for Domino's pizza and eat it in a park.