Stewart Island and Ulva Island

Sunday morning’s rain became Sunday afternoon’s rain became Sunday night’s wind and rain. It woke me around 5 a.m. Monday and continued almost all the way to Bluff, the town on the southern tip of the South Island. For us it was the jumping off point for Stewart Island and, from there, Ulva Island.
The rain had abated but gray skies prevailed as we boarded the Real Journeys catamaran in Bluff. Gales of 35-40 knots were blowing across Forneaux Strait, swelling the ocean waves to higher than the top of the boat at times as we dipped into troughs between the waves. Often the catamaran rose out of the water and slammed down, jarring bones. We rode through the rough seas for an hour, the 100-seat catamaran only half full, finally reaching Halfmoon Bay in the harbor at Oban on Steward Island at 10:30 a.m.
We went immediately to the National Park information centre where we identified walks that we could take on Stewart Island and found out where we could catch a water taxi to Ulva Island at noon. We completed two walks on Stewart, the second leading us to Golden Bay where we caught the water taxi to Ulva.
Ulva is a small island that has been predator free since rats were exterminated from the island about 20 years ago. Endangered species can now be placed on Ulva with the surety that they will have an opportunity to breed and multiply.
The pilot of our taxi encouraged us to take our time so that we could see the wide range of birds. He told us that if we would stop along the pathways birds often would come right up to us. He told us to scratch the surface of the ground and the birds would come up immediately to eat the insects that had been uncovered. We doubted him. But, several times Sybil followed his instructions and a visiting tomtit bird was treated to a meal. With no predators on the island, birds are not afraid even of humans who talk softly and avoid quick moves.
We walked all of the marked paths on Ulva, covering this island from south to north and west to east. Paths were well marked and were far less strenuous than our experience at Jack’s Bay. Even with stopping frequently to listen to birds (we nicknamed one bird the Hiccup because its call sounded like a hiccup.) and walking slowly, we completed all of the walks in less than three hours.
The canopy provided by the rain forest sheltered us from the wind and rain that fell frequently during the day. The water taxi returned for us at 3:40. Out of the forest, the temperature felt like the mid-40s – just right for two cups of hot tea at the Just Café on Main Road.
We still had more than an hour to kill before the ferry carried us back to Bluff. We decided to rest in the ferry terminal until time to leave at 6 p.m. The ride back across the strait was even rougher. We were glad to be back on terra firma by 7 p.m.