A Birder's Paradise!!! Invercargill, Bluff and Rakiura/Stewart Island Pt 2

 17 NEW SPECIES!

10/11/23

I woke up to the sound of Tui's calling by the cabin. Today was going to be a big birding day: I could feel it in my bones. Before I arrived to the island, I had signed up for the Paterson Inlet Tour. Unfortunately, I was the only one and there was a minimum of four people for the tour to run. Did I spend a good 20 minutes advertising the Paterson Inlet Tour by Rakiura Charters for free? Yes I did. Did I get to go on the tour because of it? That's showbiz baby. At 8:30 am, I began my jaunt from Deep Bay to the Halfmoon Bay Wharf and waited for the tour to start. Somehow the cruise had filled up to the maximum allowed and I was prepared for a good 3 hours of birding fun! Here is the first wildlife viewing area we arrived at!

Rakiura Charters brought us the cruise of a lifetime highlighting bird life, wildlife, the history of the hunting and whaling industry, Maori relationships with early European settlers, and the salmon and mussel farms off the coast of Rakiura. It was super informative and FULL of birds! We started out with a white-fronted tern sighting. A couple of seagulls. But then, we saw her. Nestled in the corner of a rock: a beautiful fjordland crested penguin with her baby! The baby wasn't super visible in the photo but she was snuggled all up. 

We continued on the boat to see bird after bird after bird. Brown skuas, little blue penguins, royal spoonbills, an abundance of shags (spotted, little pied, pied and Stewart Island!) and I was over the moon. Most of the other people on the boat were super interested in the different species we were seeing, so it just made for a super awesome birding boat tour. Our guide led us through the ins and outs of the historic Harrold's Bay stone cottage (the photo from the last post), the Neck, whaler's base and even the marine mussel and salmon farms. The Neck and the whaler's bases had the most interesting history to me; both had huge population booms that rapidly deteriorated in the 20th century. The Neck separates the Paterson Inlet and the Foveaux Straight. It was first settled by Maori and became a large hub for export of pigs and potatoes. Eventually, it was the largest European settlement throughout Stewart Island, as British sailors began to frequent the island. In 1875, a school was built for all the children to attend. Most of the kids took boats to school if they didn't live on The Neck itself! That means they were either a) not going to school or b) staying at school if the water was troublesome. Quite the struggle just to get in some school hours! On the other side of the inlet, we saw the remnants of the old whaler bases. There were tons of ship parts and gears left. While its not pretty to look at, the spoonbills have taken a liking to the build up of aquatic life these left over parts provide them. Can you spot the sneaky cattle egret that thinks he's a spoonbill? 

We also were able to see the Bench island and a cute little (prob 40 kg) sea lion.  As we continued along the inlet, some hungry white-capped albatrosses approached our boat. Our tour guide told us that the albatrosses love to trail behind fishing boats in hopes for scraps. They are usually very successful. Here is me having a grand ole time and the albatrosses getting fed up with us since we didn't give them any food. Shameless DON'T FEED WILDLIFE comment. They are so grumpy.

This tour honestly could not have been better. It was the perfect length and the perfect amount of birds. And on top of that we also got to check out the salmon and mussel farms that I didn't even know existed. I don't know how I thought farmed salmon and mussels were produced but I didn't expect it to be in the middle of the ocean. It was quite interesting to learn about the Rakiura salmon as there are no dangerous diseases to salmon in the water yet. Due to this, they are able to feed salmon a very healthy organic diet. If you want to learn more about their practices, I'll link their website here because it is very interesting! https://bigglorybay.co.nz/our-salmon-farm. The only sad part is that this salmon is ridiculously expensive: even for locals. 

After the tour, I got dropped off at Ulva island. I enjoyed a nice lentil salad for lunch and then continued on my birding spree. Within the first few minutes, I saw a rifleman, New Zealand's smallest bird, cheeping heroically on a branch. He was the cutest little thing! 

I only had two and a half hours on Ulva Island, but I walked every single trail. The untouched forest was captivating; I couldn't keep my eyes off the winding branches. When I eventually got to the beach, I started scanning the shore for sea lions but was pleasantly surprised to find my first ever weka scouring the ground for food! Such a cute guy!

I rushed back to the boat pick up and I headed to my cabin for a quick dinner before trivia! I made some soup and then trekked back into town. I was lucky enough to be adopted by a local named Richard and a 50+ all female hikers group. We were Richard's Angels for the night and placed 8th in the pub quiz. I love pub quizzes in New Zealand because there is typically a picture round that you can do in between  the other rounds. Our picture round was "Charlie's" and we got to name all the Charlies on the sheet. I was not very helpful with this, but I had the time of my life. Richard was kind enough to drive me back to the cabin, so I didn't have to trek back up the hill to Deep Bay. 

The next morning, I had to check out of the cabin so I packed up all my gear and had the town taxi pick me up. At this point I had planned to stay one more day in Rakiura and camp, but I really wanted to check out Bluff so I opted for a quick change of plans. The taxi dropped me off at the wharf where I was able to dump all my larger gear and I went on a little walk up to Bathing Beach. After my trek, I got the famous Kai Kart fish and chips and took a nap in the waiting room while I waited for the ferry to depart. I was quite exhausted from my two days of nonstop birding fun.  

The ride back to Bluff was significantly smoother than the ride into Rakiura. I jammed out to some music and even saw another yellow-eyed penguin! When I arrived back into the Bluff, the first thing I did was check into the Bluff Lodge. It was a run down little place, but it was cheap. Somehow, I got the whole place to myself. I treated myself to a hot chocolate and then used the last of my backpacking meals for a hearty dinner: a paneer curry. It was quite yummy for a backpackers dinner! That evening, I kicked back in my tiny sunken bed and took in the epicness of the trip. I couldn't wait for tomorrow!

My day in Bluff was perfect. I walked down to the southernmost tip of the South Island and got my photo with the sign (first post)! Adjacent to the famous landmark was a beautiful walking trail, so I decided to hike up to the peak. This was the coastal defense track for World War 2! It was really neat seeing all of the remains of that time period. I can't imagine what it would've been like scanning the ocean for enemy ships. I probably would've gotten distracted by the birds. 

Overall, it was a great trip to all of these places and I learned a great lesson! GO ANYWAY! I fully thought that the weather would be terrible and I wouldn't be able to see what I wanted to see, but I think it made for an even better trip. What if it all works out in the end? This time I got lucky! 

Stay tuned for my Mt. Cook and Dunedin excursion AND my fun Thanksgiving return :) Apologies for the delay on this one, was having too much fun back in the states!