Live. Love. Travel.: Bluff and Stewart Island

Brace yourselves friends- this is going to be a long one.

Our journey to Stewart Island really began in Bluff, where we caught the ferry. We decided to drive in a day early, partly to see Bluff and partly to get out of Invercargill. The sun finally showed its face so we had a great day walking to lookout point, one of the southernmost points of the south island of NZ where, on a clear day, you could catch a glimpse of Stewart Island. The coastline down here is so striking. Large boulders and crashing waves. If you are lucky you might find a Paua (abalone) shell here and there. The wind was a bit fierce so we didn't stay out on the point for long but long enough to watch a few albatross fly by and an eye kept out for the little blue penguins that are known to swim along these beaches (we didn't see any but I know we will at some point).

The ferry to Stewart Island was a bit rough but pretty still- a bit like the San Juans only bigger, it made me miss the pacific northwest a bit and dream of living back up there once our travels come to an end. It is only an hour but it is some of the roughest water in New Zealand, the swells were pretty good size and I kept an eye on the horizon the whole time to avoid feeling sea sick.

After a quiet night at our hostel we awoke the next morning and headed to Ulva Island, a short water taxi away from Stewart. The entire island is a bird sanctuary and we saw and heard all sorts of native New Zealand birds from the Weka to the Kaka. We spent the better part of the day over there just walking through the forest and listening.

Post Office Cove, Ulva Island

Native New Zealand Bush, Ulva Island

New Zealand Robin

Weka Bird

ARE YOU STILL READING?? THIS IS THE BEST PART-
Saturday morning we woke early and headed to the wharf where our boat for the day, the Argo was awaiting our arrival. We climbed on and a short ride later we were out in a quiet bay and preparing to dive. This was no ordinary dive however, there was a cage involved... and great white sharks... and it was awesome. When Sky planned this trip I had no intention of getting in the water with the sharks but once I saw them my curiosity won out and I suited up and got in the water. The sharks were about 4-5 meters long and perhaps the most graceful creature I have ever seen in my life. They were a bit curious about the cage but mostly just minded their own business, circling and swimming about and looking for fish. You could see in their eyes that they knew exactly what was going on, they were watching us as much as we were watching them. My respect for the ocean and the beings within it grew ten fold today.