The Catlins (enfin un peu de francais)

Voila un peu de francais, sans accents (il me faudrait un petit penguin, qui marche aux bons endroits et laisse tomber des petits accents )

The Catlins est un endroit ou il faudrait avoir une voiture. J'ai eu la chance que Tobias m'a emmene pendant quelques jours.

Un bout de la cote

un plus petit bout de la cote

Lion de mer: apparement, il faudrait pas trop les approcher. On risque sinon de faire une petite course sur la plage....

Le vent qui pousse la croissance des arbres dans une direction...

Porpoise bay: ici, on va simplement dans l'eau et on fait un peu de bruit. Grande chance existe qu'un dauphin ou deux ou trois passent pour voir ce qui se passe et pour se baigner avec les humains un petit moment...

Il y a effectivement des millions et des millions de moutons en Nouvelle Zelande. Petit a petit ca change, car l'elevage de vaches est beaucoup plus rentable. Seul probleme sont les frais pour mettre ca en route.

Je n'ai jamais vue la mer completement calme. En fait, je suis persuadee que la Nouvelle Zelande n'existe pas sans vent.

Chutes de Purakanui

Nugget point n'est pas trop loin de notre hostel alors on tente la chance de voir des penguins le soir. Ils passent leur journee en mer afin de manger. Le soir, ils rentrent pour donner a manger aux petits et se reposer. Sur le chemin, nous rencontrons un autre animal...

L'otarie à fourrure. Il est pret pour la sieste.

Penguin aux yeux jaunes. Il est tres rare. Nous sommes alles a la plage vers 20h le soir afin de le voir. Au bout d'une heure, nous etions en train de partir parce qu'on pensait qu'il ne passait pas. Mais c'etait juste le moment pour qu'il apparaisse... trop chou comment ils bougent.

...et puis a 21h35 encore vite vers le phare pour voir le coucher de soleil.

Normalement, je passe la nuit dans le dortoir d'un hostal. Il y a plusieurs lits, mais ils sont rarement tous pris. Et les ronfleurs sont rares !

Surat Bay Hostel: J'avais envie de passer du temps devant la cheminee et de flaner toute seule sur la plage...

Invercargill

I was in Invercargill before and after Stewart Island. I hosted with some couchsurfers (people that take up travellers for one or a few days in exchange for stories about my home and travels and who might later on also stay at other peoples places (www.couchsurfing.com). I had found a really nice couple. Angela and Gavin made me very welcome and in total I stayed for 3 days.
As I met a Swiss, Tobias, who was giving me a ride with his old but working car through the Catlins during the next days, he also got invited by them.
Sometimes there are interesting plans coming out of discussions, so all of a sudden there was the suggestion to go hunting on Sunday. The area is full of game and considered a nuisance (introduced in NZ by humans and takes away habitat of local animals). So you can shoot them any time, no need to think about them having young ones... But apart from two deers on the road, there was nothing to aim at.  So we had a nice walk in the forest instead with lots of listening.

Our luggage being lifted up from the ferry

Make sure not to bring any seeds or rats in your luggage while moving from an island to another. Humans already introduced too many plants and animals that imbalanced nature.

Rose garden in Queens Park in Invercargill. I can't believe so many wonderful roses two weeks before Christmas....

...just a road...

Gavin, Angela, me, Tobias

Hunting with Gavin and Tobias

 

Christmas lights competitions going on similar to what I saw around Sydney... don't think about the electricity bill...

...more lights... check it out: www.christmaslights.co.nz

Tobias and his good old car

Stewart Island

Stewart Island is a great place to be on sunny days... my days were a bit rainy but even then it was ok. I made most of the discoveries with Lisa. We made a couple of half day trips and saw plenty of wildlife... mostly winged.

Lisa and me on one of our discovery tours

A Paua shell. They are really nice for decoration and they are even ok when the come from a BBQ. It is one of the local things, that every tourist brings home !

Penguins around!

Shag drying his wings in the air.

Stewart Island pigeon

Mollyhawk

Tui feeding on nectar.

...somewhere around the island...

... and finally at night a wee little kiwi... I had to book a tour to get to the right place at the right time. It was much more fun to see him (this is a male) walking his way up the beach eating instead of trying to get a good picture.

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

Coming to New Zealand

I got to the Sydney airport, into the plane to Christchurch on the south island of New Zealand and had about one and a half hours to change plane. I needed to pick up my backpack,  go through customs. As I had a couple of shells from an Australian beach and my hiking boots they wanted to see, to make sure that I don't bring any diseases with me to New Zealand, it took me a while to get through there.
Transferring to the domestic flights' terminal was quick, I checked in my backpack and was at gate 5 20minutes before take off.
....10 minutes after scheduled time, I was still sitting there, and the gate had changed to gate 12. Our plane had engineering problems, so they needed some time to get another plane....
....Gate 10 was then announced for my flight with one hour late, so I went to find a telephone to inform the people who were picking me up from Invercargill airport....
.....in the end, I left from gate 11. When I arrived in Invercargill, Angela was there to pick me up. My first day in New Zealand had started !

Residential area in Invercargill, where I stayed with couchsurfers.

First day in Invercargill. This is how I travel: Big pack on the back, small one in hand.

On the way to Stewart Island

Once on the island, they took containers off the ferry. Our luggage has been transported in there.

First impression on the Island, nice beaches, cold weather. I spent three days with Lisa, a German girl.

Blue mountains

Coming to the Blue mountains was a great idea. It is a lovely area and you can see a lot of nature... as the tourist intended it to be. There are a lot of look out places, where you can conveniently drive very close to the site, then get out of the car and walk only a short way and have a great view.
I was happy for my feet, they didn't want to walk too much that day, but then we had to share the places with other tourists.
Towards the end, the places Lutz and Ines took me, were almost deserted. It was only us and still a great view around. There a lot of hiking trails in the area and would have liked to have a good days hike or even two... one can always dream.
The next day, my friends had to go back to bed and I had a flight to catch to the centre of my vacation: New Zealand !

The three sisters

What was the name of this waterfall again?

There are a couple of visitor centres everywhere.
They put out trays to attract the wild birds around.

Just vegetation

.... and more veetation

... and more vegetation: I especially like the tree ferns,
they are gorgeous!!

And a little trail without any other tourists !