Day 26 – Kayaking Stewarts Island

Tegan was up until after 11pm the night before and a little reluctant to wake up this morning. We missed the ferry boat to Tuva Island, but we decided kayaking was the activity for today. We strolled down to the boat shed at a bay about 500 metres from our backpackers. The day was perfect, sunny and warm with only a pinch of wind.

The water looked fantastic, but there was no one there, so we back tracked a bit and had some luck with a lady and her cell phone. She managed to have better luck than I with reaching the number for the kayaking tour and we were quickly back down to the bay and out in the water. We had a sensational time paddling around the inlet and although we didn’t see any penguins, Tegan was able to view the seabed with a giant viewing glass as well as holding a large seven legged seastar. Our trip lasted 2 ½ hours and by the end my arms were pretty worn out.

We headed back to the backpackers, grabbed our bags and then headed towards the ferry. Allie was there and entertained Tegan with a game of chess/checkers on a giant chessboard while I went and booked the ferry ride and grabbed a pink cupcake treat for the both of them. It was time to say goodbye and board our ferry.

The ride back was nearly as smooth as glass and it was nice to actually be able to check out the scenery as we travelled. I spotted something jumping in the water and went to investigate outside on the deck of the ferry. I thought it was a fish, but learned that it was probably a yellow eyed penguin. It jumped continuously across the top of the water jumping about 5-6’ horizontally out of the water and submersing only to appear again 1-2 seconds later. Penguins spend their nights on the shore and during the day they swim great lengths, up to 100 kms just to feed on fish.

We walked around Invercargill a little, doing some shopping and then we hopped into our campervan and made way for Te Anau. We never made it to Te Anau this day, I got tired and decided to locate some lodging quick, but it didn’t work out that well for us, so we kept going towards Manapouri. Then prior to reaching a randomly chosen campground, we found a charming little backpackers and got a neat little cabin with a wood stove to stay in. We made our supper and Tegan watched a movie while I slept.