Kiwis

It was a long evening, but such a great experience; maybe the highlight of my trip, at least one of the top 3 probably. After a beer at the hotel bar (the cheapest place to have a beer I've gotten to know so far in NZL - I would never have expected that in the bar of the only hotel on Stewart Island) I went to the wharf where the Kiwi encounters tour was to start at 8:30 pm - sixteen people, two guides, one skipper going by boat to a remote area of Stewart Island where kiwis can be found feeding in the bush as well as on the beach. The tour started off with a very interesting presentation about the Stewart Island kiwi which can only be found here. They are relatively tall kiwis (6-8 kg). Some interesting information were e. g., that they live in kind of groups (very atypic for kiwis), that the parents and even other kiwis share the incubation of the eggs and that the egg can make up to 25% of the whole body weight of a female kiwi. Furthermore, the hedged kiwi is practically fully developed and will not be fed by the parents at all. They will get some assistance by the parents, but after one week they are completely on their own. The boat ride was about half an hour, not much to be seen in the dark. It also had started raining, during the presentation, but when we arrived at the kiwi place it was dry again😀 We went out in the bush in two groups of eight people and one guide each. It was completely dark, but we had torches. We were so lucky to spot the first kiwi after about fifteen minutes already. It was a female not taking care of us at all, moving around and feeding. We could watch her for more than twenty minutes. It was amazing. I was lucky to see the second kiwi - a male - for a few seconds because at that point of time I was walking on the third position of the group. The last ones did not get to see him because he disappeared very quickly in the bush again. We made our way to the beach where we saw the third kiwi. He was running around very fast - I would not have expected them to be so fast. Beside the kiwi, there was a stunning sky. I have not seen such a beautiful sky without light pollution for a long time. On our way back to the boat, we saw another kiwi; might have been the first one again, we do not know. It had gotten pretty cold, so, back on the boat, I think, everyone appreciated the hot chocolate and cookies that were offered. At 1:00 am we arrived back at the wharf in Oban. I was very tired, but it was a wonderful evening.Read more