Rakiura

Image-heavy, so I’m putting in a cut.

As a general summary of my day-and-a-bit on Rakiura: I think I did pretty much everything I had the equipment & patience & capacity to do.
Walked pretty much every track I could find, including one I found by accident
Tried a Southland Cheese Roll
Had my most southerly pub beer ever (previous one was in Christchurch when I worked for DOC, a million years ago)
Completely failed to see an aurora or a comet due to terrain & weather
Heard a lot of birdlife, saw a bunch less, and demonstrated that I’m not good at bird pictures

In general, I had a great time.
The folks here are friendly & pretty chill, and even the gruff southerner routine, for the most part, was pretty minimal when it came up. ( Though that’d maybe be different if you weren’t interacting with folks in or adjacent to the service/retail/tourist industries )

The Stewart Island Backpackers is what I think of as a ‘classic’ tramping/outdoors hostel – There’s a big central common space, and a couple of wings of rooms with different numbers of beds, and the whole thing is designed around being outside, so the rooms all open onto a covered veranda, as do the bathrooms, and to get to pretty much anywhere means you’re going outside, even if you’re going to be sheltered from the rain. Big plastic trays abounded, which I eventually figured out were for muddy gear to go in so that it didn’t mess up their nice rooms, and there were radiators in each room because Dear God did they need them.
There was a box of hot water bottles in the common area, for those who might need them; Personally, I found that it was plenty warm enough when you were in bed, no need for a hot water bottle, but the problem came as soon as you got out into the freezing air. It’s the sort of thing that adds some urgency to a trip to the bathroom.
The general construction reminded me of tramping huts, or one specific DOC Area Office in Northland.

So, I went for a walk along the shoreline, mostly to see what was along in the other direction from the ferry terminal.

Looking back towards Oban from a few minutes walk along the shore; It’s not a very big place, becasue that’s the ferry terminal on the right. The thing with the red roof is probably the South Seas Hotel, a a couple of buildings to the right of that is the 4-Square general store.

Somewhere along this walk I saw a sign pointing to a walking track, so I followed where it directed, up the road going up the hill.
You know, like a fool.

Nice view though.

I did find the track, right at the top of the bloody hill, and found that as soon as you leave the road you’re immediately surrounded by bush, and birdlife that’s difficult to photograph.
I’m pretty sure that’s a kereru.

Followed that walk until it got me to another road, at which point I turned around and came back, because I’d forgotten my little paper map & didn’t really know where the hell I was.

Not entirely sure why I decided to photograph the ferry & terminal from a long way off up a hill, but … that’s what happened.

Next walk was up and over the hill behind the backpackers.

Found another little walk along the way back.

The second most southerly pub beer, both because it was the second beer, but also because by sitting outside I was slightly further north than when I had the first one, inside.
I was also more exposed to the blood-seeking sandflies, but to be fair they were also in evidence while walking over the hill, so they don’t limit themselves to just the sandy areas.

This one was the first, and most southerly, of the beers.
Though I am forced to report that generic NZ Lager tastes pretty much the same regardless of latitude, and might actually have benefited from being served warmer than it was on that day.

A mistake I’ve made a few times already on this trip is to not think about what I’m going to do in the time between leaving the accommodation & leaving the place, and … I made it here too.
I was able to stash the big bag ( yes, I overpacked ) at the backpackers, so I didn’t have too much to lug around as I went out to find breakfast, in the form of a Southland Cheese Roll, which seems to be cheese-on-toast rolled up, with maybe some onion?
It was very nice.

This climate station was just down the road, and I thought the crystal ball thing was interesting.

Went for another “let’s kill some time” walk, this time to Bather’s Beach, over the hill on the other side of Oban.

That’s the beach out there, I think – You get to it by a track through the bush.
Well, you get to a beach that way, and I assume it’s the right one.

A more successful bird picture, primarily because it was crossing the road at the pedestrian crossing outside the store.

I’d been a bit concerned that the trip back would be like the one over. When I made mention of the ferry crossing which storing my bag at the backpackers, they looked up the weather & said that at 10 knots, it’d be very smooth. Wasn’t sure whether that was accurate, or just “that’s not rough weather” talk, but it turned out to be true; Very calm trip, and it only got even slightly rough at the far end, heading into Bluff.

Didn’t realise it at the time, but the view from the Bluff ferry terminal has a lot in common with that very boring picture I took of the surroundings of Dunedin airport, in that there’s not all that much to look at in the immediate area.
Ned to earn how to take better transport infrastructure pictures, I think.

Not pictured after this was a trip back to Invercargill – Almost everyone else on the shuttle was on a package tour day trip, so had no luggage, so they were waiting on me to get going.
Then someone checked the list and spotted another person, so I wasn’t last.

There was a stop at the airport on the way back, but I don’t remember whether that was a drop-off or a pick-up.

I wasn’t able to get a room at the same hotel as before, so I went with a room at a backpacker lodge instead. Bit of an odd vibe; There was nothing wrong with the place, but it felt empty, possibly because it was a bit of maze of hallways, so you rarely saw anyone.
Also, the various signs were really big on “do this or there’s a fine” for not returning key cards, or getting locked out, or not returning towels, …

Also, a room where the only window is a skylight right above the bed … Kind of odd.

Fun stairwell though; I think the high ceilings & short stairs meant that there were two full turns per floor.