The flora is not the only thing waking up on the island after winter; so too is the settlement of Oban as it gears up for another tourist season. Spring is an unsettled season here with changeable weather - summer one moment and back to winter the next. The day length is increasing rapidly and I can walk home at 9.30pm without a torch. No doubt the weather will become more settled as Christmas approaches.
The township has visitors milling about once more and booking offices, cafes and the movie theatre have re-opened after hibernating through winter. A special event last Tuesday was the launch of Ulva Goodwillie's book,
'Ulva Island - a visitor's guide'. Stunning photos and Ulva's special touch with the text shows how special Ulva Island is, and a must-see destination for visitors to the island - covered in temperate podocarp rainforest and teeming with bird life, including mohua (yellowhead) and tieke (South Island saddleback) it demonstrates what a predator-free mainland could become in the future. More information on this special island can be found on
DOC's website (1.8Mb, opens in a new window).
The book launch at The Fernery was a great success with Ulva, and principal photographer, Gareth Eyres, kept busy signing books and sharing the story of how the book came about.
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| Ulva Goodwillie at her book launch, 5 November 2013 |
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| Ulva busy signing books |
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| Principal photographer, Gareth Eyres |
There was a different sort of visitor to the township the following day when a female seal decided to do some shopping. I'm not sure if it was the same one that we saw on 1 November as the plane shuttle took us up to the airstrip - can you see the seal swimming to the right of the post?
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| Mrs Seal wondering whether to cross the road to Ship to Shore |
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A quick shot from the moving Stewart Island Flights shuttle just captured
the seal swimming in Halfmoon Bay |
A visitor to my place was this native terrestrial flatworm that was on a plastic pot found in the bush. See if you can identify it on the
Massey University website on soil organisms page (link opens in a new window).
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| Amazing how it can stretch out - this seems to be the 'head' end! |
