stewart island - rakiura track

this is already a bit more than a week ago, but since it was awesome i still wanna show you some pics and say a few things about it...

first of all some news about how i even got to stawart island: i took the ferry - big mistake! i, who hardly ever get sea or car sick was having the worst time of my life on that ferry!!! i didnt expect such a small boat to be called a ferry anyways... it was absolutely horrible!!! the waves were a few metres high and it just went up and down, sideways and worse... apparently its the worst (or second to worst) ferry ride in the world, because the waters only 30 metres deep, so it cant really 'go' anywhere - and people like me have to suffer for that!!! nice. for one whole hour i just wished i were dead, seriously! plus i was sitting backwards, which didnt exactly help... mum & thea: it would have been your death! i dont think i ever felt so sick in my life. (miles: it was like the rock'n'rollercoaster, just not as enjoyable...=)anyways, when i got off on the wharf on stwart island i decided to FLY back instead of taking the ferry. the only problem was that i had my car at bluff and the planes go directly to invercargill - f******************! i was dreading the ride back the whole time i was on stewart island...

so after i had recovered from the ferry i started the rakiura track the next day. its a 3 day tramp and one of new zealands great tracks. it was really gorgous. though of course the weather didnt like me and it was raining quite hard on the first day. that day it was only like 4 hours and the track pretty easy... when i got to the hut there were already some people there... you get together so quickly! there was this one kiwi family with 3 boys the age of 8, 12 and 14 and they were all so gorgeous! at about 6 the weather cleared up beautifully and we went fishing on the wharf, had tea and everything... fun day!

second day: everybody had warned me how horrible, exhausting and muddy the second day would be... it could have been worse (actually thought it would be), but still, was very glad to reach the hut... that was supposed to be a 6 hour walk, but i made it in 4,5... the only really horrible thing about that day was that the WHOLE track was just stairs. since it would have been too muddy and the bush too dense without them the doc (department of conservation) had made all these stairs... and you just go up and down, up and down, and up, up, up again... nice!!! the next few days my calves hurt so much, like ive never felt it!!! couldnt really walk normally for ages, bloody painful!!! anyways, i got along so well with that kiwi family, playing cards with the boys and everything that other people at the hut thought i was either the elder sister or the au pair... that familys great! i got invited to stay with them in tauranga (north island) when im up there - which ill definitely do! =) that night we also watched the stars and we saw heaps of satelites and like 7 shooting stars... plus i saw a live possum for a change... before that i had only seen them as speed bumps on the road... =)

last day of the tramp: we were racing the whole way through, we just wanted to finish and get some fish'n'chips!!! =) which we did. im still surprised the 8-year-old boy got through almost as fast as we did, without sulking or anything!!! great boys!
and then, after some great fish'n'chips i left - on the ferry! another journey through hell! was just glad to be on the mainland again!!! that night i went out with a few people i met on the track and ferry and just enjoyed some civilisation (stawart island has a population of 420 people)...
and that was the gorgeous track. was proud of myself! =)



p.s.
i still need to correct something in the last post (the one with the cathedral caves...). made a HUGE mistake, sorry:
captain, CAPTAIN jack sparrow. =)