Snow !!
Snow !! The last couple of days have seen snow forecast on the tail end of a deep low. And it was deep, down to 972 HPA yesterday. This morning we woke to a white lawn. Not up to the window sills but certainly deeper than we’ve had since probably 2006. And not...
The Savage Spring
We’ve enjoyed a fairly mild winter this year, but as an old Stewart Island Island saying goes….. “we’ll pay for it sooner or later”……
Fuchsias Power and Blackbirds
Our Fuchsia has been out for 3 or 4 weeks now, or at least some trees have. And they are always the first sign of the “New Year” Flowers generally appear before the leaves, but although never as flamboyantly in bloom or as colourful as some of the exotic species,
Ulva with Flightless Guests
Further from my last post about Port Pegasus with Flightless a couple of days ago Maria phone me and asked if I would guide their charter folks around Ulva, as Iris and I had done previously for them. So they picked me up from Golden Bay, and after one of Courtney’s superb lunches with the party, it was back onto Ulva.
It was an absolutely stunning day, glassy calm, and wall to wall blue sky, although later in the afternoon there was signs of a front approaching from the west, but a day or so away.
A Retired Busmans Holiday
Some years ago Iris & I sold Sean & Maria of Pure Salt Charters our Fiordland and Stewart Island DoC Concessions and Environment Southland Consents to operate around Fiordland and Stewart Island. At the time I mentioned to Sean that if (when) they came down to the Island I would be happy to act as “Mud Pilot” for them. And that’s what I’ve been doing the last week.
About Me
I arrived on Stewart Island in 1969 as Forest Ranger. Since then I've fished commercially both in Fiordland and around Stewart Island then skippered our charter yacht in the same waters, and also down into the Southern Ocean. More recently we now have "Sails Ashore" B&B, and I also guide our guests and others on Ulva Island, introducing them to the natural world of Stewart island