Threatening yachties, rats, rain and mud on Stewart Island
Stewart Island boasts stinking mud, poisonous traps, head-numbing rain and a hotel. Californian writer and traveller, Douglas Wilkins, takes a sideways look at the hazards facing explorers of the far south.
RAKIURA, the original name of Stewart Island, is one of "those" names. It sort of means 'this'; it sort of means 'that.'
In one context, "Rakiura", the Maori for "glowing skies", is said to be the radiant glow of embarrassment on the cheeks of the poor fellow who proposed to two daughters of a local chief only to be turned down by both. They were intent on washing their hair, as legend has it.
Others believe the name "Rakiura" derives from the glow of the Aurora Australis.
Still others called the Island "Te Punga o Te Waka a Maui" or "The Anchor of the Canoe of Maui." The fact that it is entirely made out of granite speaks to its suitability as an anchor.
A million year downpour
That the island has received steady rain for millions of years allows for its status as a very sizable swamp. Simply walking around "on" Stewart Island means that one will be walking around "in" mud. Lots and lots of mud.
To reach Stewart Island, one crosses the Foveaux Strait, either by ferry, flight, private watercraft or, for the truly brain-bereft, by swimming.
There are not many decisions to be made once one reaches Stewart Island. It is not encumbered by communities; it possesses just one town, Oban -- many of the names in southern New Zealand are direct copy-and-paste jobs from Scotland.
An island of little choice
This solo town has but a few overnight accommodations from which to choose, which is also good for the simple-minded traveler, so we checked into the one hotel located on the harbour and then headed right back to ride a catamaran around Paterson Inlet, a large bay which all but bisects Stewart Island, eventually landing us on the well-protected shores of tiny Ulva Island.
Ulva Island is a nature preserve. Her greatest threat these days comes from yachts. Let me explain: The long and sad story of New Zealand's wildlife boils down to birds and predators. The Moa: Eaten to extinction by humans. The huia: reduced in number by weasels and rodents, and then finished off by ornithologists.
The kiwi and the kakapo (kaka = parrot, po = night) are not dead yet, but flightless and subject to the whims of rats who have developed a taste for eggs.
Ulva Island, however, is small enough and walkable enough that predators other than thirteen year-old boys armed with rocks have been eliminated.
Threatening yachties
So why does the Department of Conservation continue to place some rather wicked cyanide-and-arsenic traps for rats on Ulva? Answer: Yachts. Yachts carry well-to-do humans, and well-to-do humans do not like to go hungry. And ample food supplies attract a certain quotient of rats.
To which fact one only needs to add the knowledge that rats can swim over a thousand meters, to understand that even the most well-meaning yacht owners threaten the kiwis and kakapos of the island.
Mud, wilderness, and rats. These are the charms that await the hardy visitor to Stewart Island.
Doug Wilkins
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