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We were feeling so tired this morning. Think it's because we had a break in Queenstown. Then I had to get a shower, and it was freezing in the shower room. The shower was hot, but it was freezing in there. Definitely does feel like I'm in England!
We were on the road again by 8am, making our way to Invercargill. Mick Jagger apparently once described the city as "the a******* of the world". So with that in mind, we decided we should definitely go to Stewart Island. Originally we'd decided not to go because the ferry costs $110 (£55)! and the problem is, because of the bus timetable, we can only stop for 1 night or 4 nights. So too short or too long. Anyway, we decided to just go for it for one night. After all, we've spent lots of money on skydives etc, so we should really pay that bit of money to see what is regarded as one of the best places in New Zealand.
So, we dropped most people off in Invercargill, then made our way to Bluff Wharf ferry terminal. We jumped into a little catamaran ferry and cruised across to Stewart Island. We saw some huge Albatross flying around and were also told about the many Great White Sharks in the waters around Stewart Island...
Stewart Island has barely anything on it, just a township called Oban. There is one pub. Actually, it's a pub, restaurant and hotel. There's a cafe, a chippy and a shop. That's it. There's only 20km of road as well. Practically the whole island is a world heritage site though, and the island itself is actually quite big. There's a huge walking track that takes days to do with little huts that you can stay in for the night. We won't be doing any of that crazy stuff though.
We got to Stewart Island Backpackers, checked in and managed to get a 2-bed dorm for $25 (£12.50) each. Again, we were first off the block, which is why we managed to get our own room at the same price as the 4-bed dorms.
We're only staying one night, so want to see as much as we can in the short time we're here. So, we shot straight out to the information centre to see about renting a mountain bike or maybe a scooter.
They only let one person in a scooter though, and she said a mountain bike is no good really because the roads are very hilly. Instead, we rented a car for $75 (£37.50) and then shared it with Emer. It actually worked out cheaper than getting a mountain bike each as they were $29 each. And we didn't have to put any petrol in it -sorted.
It was the last car too!
2 sayings that have been so true while travelling - "snooze, you lose" and "you get what you pay".
We had to shoot back for some lunch first, then went back to pick the car up at 2pm. The woman at the info centre gave us a few tips about where to go, not that we could go wrong on only 20km. So, we jumped in our little green Ford Ka called Rat! Yeah, the same car we used to have at home but this one was a bit better. We drove over to Lee Bay passing a couple of other lovely beaches and stopping for pictures, then on a long gravel track. The sun gradually came out once we got to Lee Bay and we went for a walk up to Little River. Lee Bay is really beautiful. It made it really worth coming over here just to see that. It's got a nice name too.
On the way back to the main town we stopped off at some gardens which have a great view over Oban. Then we drove to the other side to a really good lookout point over a few more bays. We drove a little further on a windy, cliff edge, single lane dirt track to see some really small islands called faith, hope and charity. From there, we drove to another walking track, which took us to one of the first homes built on Stewart Island. It was a tiny stone building, that used to house a family of nine - 9 kids on 5-tier bunk-beds! It was in a beautiful spot though with it's own secluded bay.
We walked on further to get to a lighthouse. Well, it's not much of a lighthouse! It's just a light. There used to be a lighthouse, but they've replaced it with a little bright light. Nice views out there though.
We got to some really nice lookout points today with amazing views of Stewart Island.
It was 5.30pm by the time we'd finished, and time to take the car back for 6pm. We were quite tired so went back to the hostel for a rest. We were sat in the room and felt quite drowsy. Think it was because the radiator was on! That's the first radiator that's been on since we've been travelling I think.
We decided to go for Fish and Chips at Kai Kart which is recommended in the Lonely Planet. It's a little place, but it was busy. We took them back to the hostel and ate them in the dining room. Pretty good fish and chips, but they're no Murgatroyd's. Can't beat a Billy Murg special.!
I felt so tired after that. We sat with Emer in the lounge on the sofas with a cup of coffee, and it was really warm in there, so I was almost asleep. Then Emer got out cheese and crackers! They were lovely. We spent a couple of hours nearly, just sat chatting. It was nice to relax on a sofa for a change!
Just before bed, I opened my wash bag to find shaving gel had squirted everywhere and foamed up! Right mess...
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