— post a little late this is from a few days ago —

 

Hi Everyone!

Yesterday we had an amazing day.  We were staying in Invercargill which is on the southern tip of the south island and got up nice and early to make the 8 am ferry to Stewart Island.  Stewart Island is the small island to the south which was originally thought to be part of NZ when discovered by Captain Cook in 1760.  In 1809 William Stewart was the first to chart the island and so its name.  On the island there are several walks you can take that range from an hour or two to a week and a half with huts and tent sites along the way.  We decided to go for the day and do a full day walk.  It was amazing.  The Maori legend goes that the three islands of NZ (the north, the south and Stewart Island) are of people fishing.  The south island is the boat and the north island the fish.  The fish was so big that the Maori in the boat had to throw an anchor and this is Stewart Island.  

So.  Our “walk”.  We decided on a track that would take us through original forest of the island which had never been cleared and had not been altered much.  It was to take us up to a scenic look out and then down along cliffs to some beautiful beaches.  It did.  The thing was that the trek up was not only quite steep, it was, in some places, a good deal of mud and muck.  Jonathan and I wondered if the boys were up to it and contemplated turning back at one point but the boys decided they wanted to keep going.  They saw it as a real challenge to find alternate ways around the muck and it often took up to 5 minutes to get us all 2 feet up.  We were very impressed with how the boys worked together and now we feel they would do very well on a multiple day walk that will take us into Fiordland for 3-4 days. 

Today we are in Te Anau.  It is a little over 100KMs from Milford Sound which is an inlet that is surrounded by fiords.  We are planning to drive up the day after tomorrow and take a cruise around the sound and possibly a day walk there as well.  It is, in a word, stunning.  I have never seen anything like it and we are all enjoying ourselves.  We just wish they didn’t depend so much on tourism because things get really expensive for a family if we want to do any of the touristy things.  We are camping in holiday parks which is less expensive than a hotel and they have the added convenience of communal kitchens and hot showers.