Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The first European visitor was Captain Cook. Sailing around the eastern, southern and
western coasts in 1770 he mistook it for the bottom end of the South Island and promptly
named it South Cape. In 1809 the sealing vessel Pegasus circumnavigated Rakiura and
named it after its first officer, William Stewart.
In June 1864 Stewart and the adjacent islets were bought from local Maori for £6000.
Early industries were sealing, timber-milling, fish-curing and shipbuilding, with a short-
lived gold rush towards the end of the 19th century. Today the island's economy is de-
pendent on tourism and fishing.
Flora & Fauna
With an absence of mustelids (ferrets, stoats and weasels) and large areas of intact forest,
Stewart Island/Rakiura has one of the largest and most diverse bird populations of any-
where in NZ. Even in the streets of Oban the air resonates with birds such as tui, bellbirds
and kaka, which share their island home with weka, kakariki, fernbirds, robins and
Rakiura tokoeka/kiwi. There are also plenty of shore- and seabirds including dotterels,
shags, mollymawks, prions, petrels and albatross, as well as the sooty shearwater which is
seen in large numbers during breeding season. Ask locals about the evening parade of
penguins on a small beach near the wharf; and please - don't feed the birds. It's bad for
them.
Exotic animals include two species of deer, the red and the Virginia (whitetail), intro-
duced in the early 20th century, as were brush-tailed possums, which are now numerous
throughout the island and destructive to the native bush. Stewart Island/Rakiura also has
NZ fur seals, NZ sea lions, elephant seals and occasionally leopard seals that visit the
beaches and rocky shores.
Beech, the tree that dominates much of NZ, is absent from Stewart Island/Rakiura. The
predominant lowland bush is podocarp forest, with exceptionally tall rimu, miro, totara
and kamahi forming the canopy. Because of mild winters, frequent rainfall and porous
soil, most of the island is a lush forest, thick with vines and carpeted in deep green ferns
and mosses.
Sights
Ulva Island
ISLAND
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