Ulva Island is named after an island in the far north Shetland Islands. Most of Ulva Island is a predator-free national park and has many hiking trails and many unique creatures.
The white part of the rocks is not what you think. It's an algae that loves the sun.
These pied oystercatchers watched us sail by.
Remains of mining that was done on the island.
This is where the
Post Office stood for about 70 years. Every 6 weeks or so, when mail came in, Charles Traill (the 'postmaster' and general store owner) would climb the nearby hill and raise a flag that everybody on all the islands could see. Then people would come by boat to pick up their mail.
The house in the photo belongs to his descendants who use it occasionally.
We didn't see any kiwi, but these are some tracks they left.
Until the 1970's (I think), people of Stewart Island would use the leaves of this tree as postcards!
They would write on the bottom side, slap a stamp on it and off it would go.
Umbrella moss.
Red crowned parakeet captured by Hubby.
Kaka (native birds) strip the bark from the totara trees, looking for bugs and the tree survives for many years.
A Stewart Island robin, found nowhere else in the world.
This photo isn't great but it was funny to see a weka chasing another down the path.
