Day 30 - Oban

Saturday, November 2nd

This is the day!! I dug to the bottom of my suitcase for woollies, gloves and hat. I had packed a woollen base layer and a wool sweater to wear beneath my cashmere cardigan and jacket for what was to be, I thought, the coldest and windiest day of this vacation. The weather didn't disappoint - it wasn't really cold (perhaps 7 or 8 degrees) but the wind off the ocean and off-and-on rain made it feel much colder than it was. My clothing was just barely enough.

We caught a 9:30 AM ferry to Oban from Bluff, 30 minutes south of Invercargill. Our transport, the Foveaux Express, is a 97 passenger catamaran so it's nothing like our BC ferries. It's a new and very comfortable vessel. Our skipper told us it was a 'bit choppy today' and any passengers who had difficulty travelling on water were advised to sit in the rear of the vessel. Well, it was a very rough ride with 12-15 ' swells for most of the one hour, 22 km journey. Tina struggled keeping her breakfast down by never taking her eyes off the horizon. An onboard information booklet advised taking ginger or other anti-nausea medication, available from the crew, if necessary. Another trick I learned in reading the document suggests putting an earplug in the ear opposite your dominant hand. Interesting.

Upon arrival we checked into our accommodation and headed out to explore. We found a local salmon smoking operation so we picked some up for lunch before catching another catamaran for a cruise of Paterson Inlet and hike on Ulva Island. It's not called hiking here, it's called 'tramping' and a hiker is a 'tramper'.

                  

The bird life is extraordinary! We got a lot of good photographs of albatross when the crew idled the boat and threw bread out to them. Stewart Islanders are dedicated to protecting their environment and have gone to great lengths to eradicate any non-native predators, such as possums and rats. They have not yet succeeded but progress is being made. All predators have been eradicated from Ulva Island, though, and the NZ Robin in the third picture was very tame.

Following our cruise and guided 'tramp' through the indigenous forest, we explored a bit more before meeting Chris who took us in her van to explore sights along the 28 miles of road on the Island.

                                          

Oban is a town of about 400 residents but its population swells to well over 1000 in the summer. People love life here and remind us lot of the people at home who live on Haida Gwaii. I found it very interesting to learn that their school has only 24 students age 5 - 13. There is one full-time and one part-time teacher who facilitate an individualized learning program with each student working on an iPad or computer. (This explains to me why we have the best wifi service in this, the most remote community, of all the places we've visited so far.) After age 13 students head to the mainland to complete their education. No teenagers on this Island - it's an interesting demographic.

After saying farewell to Chris we headed to the pub for a beer (we're partial to Speights Gold now) and a light dinner. Lucky for us, the All Blacks were playing Japan (rugby, for those who don't know) and we were just in time to watch the first part of the game with the locals. As a rule, I don't watch sport of any kind but I will never tire of seeing those All Blacks intimidate their opponents with the Haka before each game. It's priceless!

Once we'd had enough beer and food, we vacated our cushy seats in the crowded pub and made our way up a very steep hill to our lodge. We had the entire facility to ourselves so we enjoyed sitting in the lounge with a huge picture window overlooking the bay feeding the kaka (NZ parrot), reading and writing. Bonus - we had wifi so I was able to publish several overdue days of activity on the blog!

                                              
BTW - The All Blacks cleaned the clocks of their Japanese opponents this evening, 58  - 6. That Haka must've scared the bejesus out of those poor guys.