Ulva Island

On our last day on Stewart Island we walked over to the Golden Bay wharf to catch the water taxi over to Ulva Island.

Golden Bay Wharf

 

Ulva is a predator-free island so they're serious about keeping them off the island.

There were no rats in our backpack!

It's just a five minute boat ride over.  We followed a network of trails around the island.

The trees are much taller than on Stewart Island as it's never been logged. It's been a reserve since 1892.

Every time we stopped at a bench, a South Island Robin would come out to greet us.

We came out on some pretty beaches.

We managed to see some birds we hadn't come across before:

South Island saddleback, Bird of the Day!

Yellowhead

And there were kaka flying around.

At one point the trail comes out on a beach.  You walk down the beach and get back on the trail at the other end.  They warn you about the sea lions.

We came out on the beach and there was a sea lion.

I immediately headed down the beach but Leo stopped to take pictures.  The sea lion started coming for him.

We hightailed it to the other end of the beach.  A school group came along from the other direction and couldn't access the rest of the trail.  They had to turn back. 

Pretty seaweed

Everyone we ran into on the trail said they'd seen weka, but we weren't having any luck.

But then we came across one bumbling down the trail, paying no attention to us.

And walked right by us.

And then we saw two or three more.

Nice moss

Big trees!