From the studio of Susan Harrison-Tustain
November 2008
November 2008
Newsletter page 3: Stewart Island A memorable visit to a beautiful, unspoilt part of New Zealand, and the inspiration for some new paintings for my next exhibition. (Click images to enlarge.)
My son, Glen, and his partner, Kath, both work for the Department of Conservation (DoC). Glen is involved in conserving the large, flightless takahe that was once thought to be extinct, until a small population was discovered in the remote mountains of Fiordland in 1948. He has just been appointed to be in charge of the Burwood Bush captive rearing unit near Te Anau.
When Glen suggested visiting Stewart Island I was interested, but not overly excited, especially when he mentioned hiking and staying in a bush hut! I needn't have been concerned. It turned out to be a truly magical experience and one I will always look back on with great joy. This pristine island sits just south of New Zealand's South Island. It is the country's 3rd largest island, though much smaller than the two largest. It's wonderful that 85% is now designated as National Park and it suffers less from the depredations of introduced mammalian predators. I know many of you live outside New Zealand but some have visited here and loved it. Many have expressed interest in visiting our beautiful country. If you enjoy nature and hiking (flat ground) - then contemplate adding this to your itinerary. If you love it as much as I did - it will be something you will never forget!
We flew from our home in Tauranga (North Island) to Invercargill, where we met Glen and Kath, then caught a small plane (10 seater) to cross Foveaux Strait to Stewart Island. The great thrill was to land on the sand of the 14km (9 mile) long beach at Mason Bay on the west coast of the island. Wow! That was fun. We hiked the short distance to the nearby DoC hut, where we spent 2 nights.
During our full day there we explored the beach and forest in the vicinity. Mason Bay is directly in the path of the roaring forties, resulting in a massive sand dune system behind the spectacular beach. It was so atmospheric as the flung spray hung in the air and the roar of the waves and song of the gulls was carried on the wind.
The forest is home to many species of native birds, including our national bird, the kiwi. In fact Stewart Island is the only place in the country where you can see the usually nocturnal kiwi foraging during the daytime. Later that day the skies opened and the rain bucketed down. We were thankful we were not tenting!
Next day was our 'big trekking' day and fortunately the sun was shining. I'm not usually into hiking for any distance, but that day we hiked 14kms and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Admittedly we only ascended and descended a few metres, and there were boardwalks in the swampy parts, but I felt pleased with myself to have covered such a distance. It must have been the variety of beautiful unspoilt scenery - from open country to marshes and bush with clear gurgling streams - that kept me going. The birds, including robins, tomtits, fernbirds, tui and bellbirds were often approachable to within a few metres. The robins stole my heart with their gregarious nature. Stop for long enough and one would hop up to you and pull your shoelace or jump on to your camera bag! The end of our trek was Freshwater Landing from where a water taxi took us to the main town of the island, Oban, which has a grand total of about 390 residents. After a well-earned soak in the shower and some relaxation we did a little more walking to a nearby restaurant for an excellent dinner.
No trip to Stewart Island is complete without a boat trip to Ulva Island, just 10 minutes from Oban. Due to DoC's efforts the island is now predator free and home to many of our native species of plants and wildlife, some of which are now quite rare. If you loved the first part of the trip - then this will be the icing on the cake.
Susan Harrison-Tustain ** Christmas shopping suggestion **
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