 |
| Sunrise from Fred's Camp |
Rakiura means 'glowing skies' and the soft pastel colours in the sky around Stewart Island on my recent visit showed again and again the appropriateness of this Maori place name. Views like this sunrise above were nearly enough to turn this writer to taking up water-colour painting!
(NB to see this video you need Adobe Flash Player)
The water was mesmerising too. What these photos don't show is that Rakiura / Stewart Island has had a wet summer. The continuing rain storms thwarted our tramping plans but as often happens changing plans led to some new opportunities.
Unable to tramp further, we had more time to look around at the vegetation. The late summer meant that the Southern rata
Metrosideros umbellata was still flowering
 |
| Rata at the water's edge |
and its red new leaves were beginning to show.
 |
| New rata leaves |
Also flowering were putaputaweta (marble leaf) and kamahi. These three brought white, pink and red colours to the canopy, the rimu was in fine form as well and added its own particular shade of olive green to the mass of trees that we saw from the boat.
 |
| Colours and textures of the bush |
Less obvious was the white rate vine
Metrosideros diffusa, but close up it's white/pink flowers lit up the inner bush.
 |
| White rata flowers |
Among my favourites on Rakiura are the tree daisies. With thick glossy green leaves, this mutton bird scrub
Brachyglottis rotundifolia grows close to the water's edge.
 |
| Mutton bird scrub |
Walkers and trampers spend a lot of time looking down at the ground, needing to watch our footing on the muddy and uneven tracks. In the swampy areas we spotted sundew and sun orchids (unfortunately on a day too dark for photography). In the bush we found other orchids, this green bird orchid
Simpliglottis cornuta was discovered after one of my party sat on it
 |
| Green bird orchid |
and the odd-leaved orchid
Aporostylis bifolia was not far away.
Further information:
Stewart Island Plants by Hugh Wilson is one of New Zealand's best plant guides and is useful not just for Stewart Island as many of the plants occur across New Zealand.
In my next blog - kiwi sightings on Rakiura...
SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
