Stewart Island, New Zealand's third largest island, is home to 400 permanent residents and has only 30 Km of roads, so we opted to not rent a car for the day.
After a visit at the local Department of Conversation (DOC) office to get some directions, we headed off on a self-guided walking tour of the Oban area.
First stop was Observation Rock to take in the views, and then we walked on a combination of roads and bush tracks to the end of the road at Thule.
Our first wildlife encounter was a NZ Wood Pigeon (Kereru) perched on a tree next to the road.
After a sandwich on the beach at Thule we headed to Deep Bay where we saw a Stewart Island Weka on the beach.
We then made our way back over the hills to Oban, pausing for photos of the town from Peterson Road.
The coffee was almost as welcome as taking the weight off our legs for a while, and we then checked out the local cemetery and the Bathing Beach.
While walking back into town we spied a Kaka feasting on a piece of fruit on the deck railing of a cottage.
With a little time in hand we took in a local movie called "A Local's Tail" and we even got to meet Lola, the star of the show.
The skipper of our return ferry seemed to be in a hurry to get home and made the crossing in 45 minutes, but it felt more like a roller coaster than a ferry. I wouldn't want to be doing it on a rough day.
We have now arrived back in Invercargill and I am hurrying to get this posting done before I fall asleep. I guess today was one for the birds.
Tomorrow we head to Te Anau.
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