And the back to back ports just kept on coming. All the way down at the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island lies a lesser known and much smaller island – Stewart Island. We didn’t know much about Stewart Island and didn’t have particularly high expectations, but it turned out to be one of our favorite ports. It didn’t hurt that the sun had got his hat on.
From the tender landing at Golden Bay Wharf, there was an optional shuttle to take us to the small town of Oban on the other side of the island. But why ride when you can walk? And why walk the easy way along the paved road when you can detour via overgrown rainforest trails? Rainforest it was for us then.
We popped out at the aptly named Observation Point along the way, looking back over rolling hills, with tiny fishing boats moored in the bay and our much bigger ship hanging tight for us further out.
Oban was a charming spot nestled in Halfmoon Bay.
It had everything you could want from a cute little tourist village by the sea – a corner shop that sold crisps, a fish & chip shop, and a pub. We were delighted to see it also had a bike rental place. Even better, they had e-bikes 🙂
Renting an e-bike for a couple of hours meant we could explore much more of the surrounding wild coastline and scenic bays than on foot. We zipped from one secluded bay to the next. We were blown away by the white sandy beaches – it reminded us of some of the prettiest spots we’ve visited in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
We were serenaded by these little guys, Tuis apparently. Those little white sacs around their necks inflate when they sing, v cool.
Eager to fit in as much as possible into our day on Stewart Island, Darren had booked us on an afternoon sea kayaking trip. It was just us, our guide Phil, and one other couple (who’d only ever been on ‘sit-on-top’ kayaks in temperate Caribbean water). If you look at any other kayak blog posts I’ve done, it seems there’s always a decent dose of drama. And this one was no different. The wind conditions are what made this one ‘interesting’.
As we rounded one particular headland, to me it felt very similar to our recent Rangitoto kayaking experience from Auckland – fighting against massive waves as we bobbed uncontrollably like a cork, with a soda stream of salty water siphoned directly at my face. Darren later told me it was way more dangerous than that. So much so that the guide offered to comp the trip. Notably, the other couple didn’t make it round the headland and the guide went back to check on them and then called us back to safety. As you can imagine, with the wind behind us, getting back was somewhat quicker.
Side note, in a moment of experimentation, I asked ChatGPT to write this post for me. I told it that we did a rainforest hike, a bike ride and a ‘hairy’ kayak trip in Oban. I’m not going to call it cheating because it didn’t produce anything of value (“our hiking boots crunched on the damp earth” – wait, what?). But it did cause me to chuckle when its description of the kayak trip included an encounter with a Great White Shark! Turns out AI has got itself a rather creative imagination.
Back in the real world, the advantage of the kayak trip being cut a little short was that we got to squeeze in a wee drink at the pub before rejoining the ship. Sitting in the beer garden with the last of the afternoon sun and a Pimms and lemonade – don’t mind if we do. To be fair, I think Darren had a pint and tucked himself into the shade of a patio umbrella, but that’s just par for the course. And this being our last port in New Zealand, I also stocked up with crisps from the corner shop 🙂
Thanks New Zealand, I hope one day we’ll be back!