Ulva Island

Ulva Island is a small island close to Stewart Island, A water taxi brings us over in less than 10 minutes.
On the way there, we see some penguins in the water far away. Cute little fellows !

Blue penguin

At first, we arrive at a post office. This has been used in the early 1900s as post office for all the other small islands around. A flag was raised when the post boat came in. From the flag, you have a great view on the surrounding islands, and we were lucky to get to the island on a nice day. The air is full of bird song and all around us is only the green of the vegetation and water and the sky.

Arriving at Ulva Island

After a little while walking, we come to one of the many beaches and meet a family of Stewart Island Weka. They peck their way around and don't seem to care much about us. Sometimes, people mistake this bird for a kiwi, but they are smaller, less shy and look more like a chicken.

Weka

Weka baby

Who is more curious?

On another beach, we have lunch, one of the weka is interested in our sandwiches. No chance, as you are not allowed to feed them. There are enough crab to feed on.

Fortunately, my sandwich is still wrapped in plastic.

Humans have brought so many beasts to New Zealand, that do not belong here. On the surrounding islands, this is similar. The predators, like rats, possum, mice etc have no natural enemies so the humans have to take care of that. For different types of predators, they put up different types of traps, so the can reduce them.

Trap for some unwanted predators

There are many different types of fern in New Zealand. A special one is called the hen-and-chick-fern. It grows little " chicken"  on its leaves and if they fall to the ground they just start up as the next generation.

Hen-and-chicken fern

We hear a lot of birds, and they also show themselves. They come close, sing their song. Some also don't want us to come to close, as nesting season started. A couple of oyster catchers try to lure us away from their nesting area.

Stewart Island Robin

Kaka

Oyster catcher

At low tide, I looked on the rocks and saw lots of red "blobs". These looked just weired and I didn't want to touch them. A couple of hours later, at high tide, these blobs showed what they were actually protecting.

Red blob outside the water at low tide

Red blob in the water: sea anemone

Late in the afternoon, we finally left the island again with a big bag full of memories.

Little memory of Ulva island