I actually slept until 6:00 a.m. this morning, so the jetlag seems to be wearing off slowly. We enjoyed everything about our short stay on Stewart Island. Brett and Jenny were outstanding hosts at the Bay Motel, and the accommodations were comfortable and provided great views of the bay. Everyone we encountered: on the tour, at the museum, in shops, and at the restaurant at the South Sea Hotel was genuinely friendly and willing to provide us with any information we needed.
We checked out and Brett took us back to the Stewart Island Flights HQ, which also happened to be the Stewart Island Post Office. We weighed in and handed over our duffel bags as our “checked” baggage. I walked outside and took a few last-minute pictures of Halfmoon Bay:
There were only two other pax, and the four of us piled into the van for the short trip back to the Stewart Island airstrip. Once there, the van pulled off to one side of the strip. We could see the flight from Invercargill approaching to our east, paralleling the runway and making its final turn. Within a few minutes, it landed and unloaded its passenger.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Stewart Island Flights 152
Stewart Island Airstrip-IVC
Scheduled Departure/Arrival: 9:30 a.m./9:50 a.m.
Actual Departure/Arrival: 9:15 a.m./9:35 a.m.
Piper Cherokee Six
Seats the row behind the pilot
The other couple took the seats in the last row, so we sat in the middle row. That required stepping up onto the wing and pretty much falling into the plane. We wedged our way in, buckled up, and listened to the safety information. We were on our way quickly. The pilot warned us that we would be facing some headwinds but he did not expect the flight to take more than the scheduled 20 minutes.
Sitting behind the pilot was interesting, because I was able to see the speed, distance from IVC, altitude, and the ETA. However, I spent more time looking at the view to my left and straight ahead. The peaks of Southland were snowy and the sky was gloomy. It did not photograph well, but, take my word for it, it looked magical from my seat:
When the runway at IVC came into sight, I noticed the pilot was looking all around. I realized he was making sure there were no other planes in the area, so I decided to help him. (Not that he needed my help, but I would have let him know if I had seen another plane anywhere!) We had the airspace all to ourselves, so no worries. We landed and went into the terminal building to wait for our “checked” bags. They appeared quickly, so we paid our parking fee and drove back into Invercargill. Mr. FB was feeling a bit queasy after the flight, so he wanted to go back to Starbucks for coffee and a muffin. No complaints from me. Next, I wanted to go to the Warehouse to pick up a couple more pair of Alpsocks like the ones I got a few days earlier. Then we decided to visit Countdown supermarket to stock up on provisions and the CalTex station for petrol. The latter two stops were motivated by the realization that we were going to be heading into less populated areas where groceries and petrol would be more expensive.
By 11:30 a.m., we were on the road, headed to Te Anau. Rather than take the most direct route through Winton, we chose to take the Southern Scenic Route through Riverton and Tuatapere. Taking the more scenic route gave us the opportunity to pass through the charming town of Riverton and drive along the coast for a bit.
The weather had been fairly nice for our drive, cloudy but dry. Of course, that changed when we decided to take the turnoff to Colac Bay to take pictures. The weather got windy and rainy as we parked the car, but we still managed to take some pictures:
I remembered how much I loved the rocks on this beach when I visited it in 2002. I still have a few of the ones I picked up and put in my pocket when I visited then. Amazingly, there were surfers enjoying the waves on the chilly day. Maybe it was not that cold to them. We got back into the car and stopped again to take a few more pictures at Orepiki before heading through Tuatapere to our destination. I would have loved to visit Lake Houroko or Lake Monowai, but the weather was getting more rainy and windy, so we pressed on.
When we got to Manapouri, we decided to make a pit stop at Frasers Beach. The heavy rain created a wonderfully spooky landscape across Lake Manapouri:
We were only 20 km from Te Anau, so we made the short drive and stopped at the i-Site. We will spend two days in Te Anau, and we plan to visit Doubtful Sound one day and Milford Sound the other. I had noticed the Milford Road had closed earlier on Sunday, so the prospects of getting to Milford on Monday did not seem to be that good. The weather is so changeable here that no one could really give us an idea which day would be better for the visit to Milford. We decided to book a visit to Doubtful Sound on Monday and hope for the best for Tuesday.
Before checking into our hotel, we decided it was time to have a meal. We walked up the Town Centre, and many of the shops were closed. After all, it’s Sunday afternoon during low season. We visited the Olive Tree Café for sandwiches and then made our way back to the car. On the way, we bought a couple of t-shirts for our nephews. Finally, we headed to our hotel, Campbells on the Lake. Because our stay was prepaid, check-in was really fast. We got to our one-bedroom apartment, took a look at Lake Te Anau out the front window,
and we decided enjoying the rest of the rainy afternoon/evening in our warm room was preferable to getting out again. After all, we have a full Monday ahead of us.