After we returned home last night from the pub we were sure the wind had abated or at least in the pitch blackness of Church Hill, Oban, it seemed that way.
However, during the night the wind did return with gusto and we assume from a slightly different direction as something metallic was rattling noisily on the roof wanting to take off into the air and land somewhere to the east of us.
Sunrise however revealed that the wind had blown itself out and it didnt look like we would miss out on our boat trip to Paterson Inlet and Ulva Island at midday because of the wind.
With time on our hands we lazed around and continued to enjoy the vistas from our Kiwi bach until it was time to head down the hill to the wharf and make our connection for the boat trip.
There were 19 people in total on the trip including ourselves and the ferry boat that usually plys across the strait was our transport.
As we crossed the harbour the captain and tour guide slowed the catamaran down so we could get a good close up look at a Mollyhawk,
related to the Albatross, bobbing around on the water while another Mollyhawk glided around low above the water very gracefully. Getting so close up got the trip well underway for even more bird watching to come.
The boat also edged into the small Harrold Bay so we could get a view of a tiny stone cottage built around 1836 by Lewis Aker, a harpooner on a whale chaser. Lewis married a Maori wahine, Mary Pi, and together they had 9 children, all of whom they raised in this one room cottage.
Then it was around the point and into Paterson Inlet where the state of the sea looked nothing like yesterday and we cruised around the coastline passing Iona Island and then onto Ulva Island which has a great reputation for seeing native birds close up.
We were split into 2 parties with a separate guide each and off we trekked for an hour and a half in the forest along well formed paths.
There werent a lot of birds around unfortunately although a rare Stewart Island Robin did follow us close for a good distance and we did have a close up encounter with a
weka on the track.There were a number of birds high up in the canopy that we heard and some people caught a glimpse of.
Our guide who said she had been in her job for 50 years was very knowledgeable on trees but couldnt entice any of the many bird species on the island close enough to us. In a way this made the walk a bit disappointing although we did have to remind ourselves that this is nature and at the end of the day you see whatever turns up as you pass through their territory.
It seemed the other group had had similar luck to us and perhaps that had been down to the storm force winds of yesterday.
The boat had to be back in Oban for the 3pm crossing to Bluff so it was a more direct cruise back into Half Moon Bay to unload us and take on passengers for the trip across the strait.
We journeyed up the steep hill one more time to fill in time before it would be time to head back down to the pub for some dinner and then out on the Beaks
and Feathers trip up to the air strip tonight for some Kiwi spotting. We say one more time as tonight after the Kiwi spotting the van we go out in will drop us back to our bach making for an easy return.
Before we headed out for dinner and tonights activity we had a visit from 5 kaka who made themselves at home on the deck of the bach with one even landing on Gretchens shoulder as she tried to get photos of them.
The restaurant at the hotel looked busy again and it appeared that perhaps the backlog of people hadnt been cleared yet back to the mainland so we had our pizza dinner in the bar again with the locals.
Not wanting to have consumed too much alcohol before the Kiwi spotting we held ourselves back to a couple of wines each before wandering across to the departure place at Beaks and Feathers.
