We were all up and out of the hostel by half 6 and on our way down to Invercargill. We had time for a brief stop at a beach to watch the sunrise and then grab a bit of breakfast before going and boarding the ferry. The bus wasn’t coming with us so we’d all packed overnight bags and headed on to the ferry with packed lunches. We arrived on the island a little after 10.30am and split up to head to our respective accommodation. Half the group headed to the hostel and the other half of us headed to the hotel, the group was too big to all fit in one! After settling into my single room, a cosy little space that smelt a little of Grandmas, I met up with Chris (from Colorado, but don‘t hold it against him!), Sarah (attractive slightly tomboy girl from St. Helens, and a fellow Durham graduate), Jess (groovy pierced type from Edmonton in Canada like many of my cousins) and Lucienne (leggy blonde from the Netherlands, who complains of people pigeon-holing her for being a leggy blonde all the time so I‘ll add that she‘s really very intelligent and funny too) and we headed off on a hike around the coast to a large bay. In the event we didn’t go all the way round but had a great couple of hours tramping around the tranquil yet rugged island coastline. We ate lunch in a small cove and decided to head back on a different route inland. Sadly a fair few developments seem to be under way that’ll start to eat into more of Stewart Island’s unspoilt wilderness but for now the most noticeable thing was the sheer peace and quiet of the place, other than our nattering of course!

I’d envisaged a restful afternoon but after watching a bit of rugby league I was challenged to a pool match by Sarah. The pride of Hatfield was at stake but I’m afraid for the second time in two days I was vanquished, and by a girl from a hill college too. I can only apologise to my gender and fellow alumni for my failings! Thankfully no-one else from the bus was there to witness my undoing, just a few craggy locals who were far more interested in the rugby and their drinks than a couple of poms giving a fair demonstration of how not to play pool.

We stayed on in the bar for a pub quiz, an event that was evidently the highlight of Stewart Island’s social calendar as the place was packed to the rafters. Our hostess was a profane bulldog wearing with pride a new t-shirt that read ‘some people find me offensive, if you do you can piss off’. Charming. She ruled the room with an iron fist and at one stage actually taped a man’s mouth shut for answering her back. I guess when the world around you is that calm maybe you need to whip up a frenzy yourself! Overall our team didn’t disgrace itself and came in 6th of around 14 teams, and we could proudly hold our heads up as the highest of the Stray Bus teams. We had a few more drinks and finished the night rocking out to some truly cheesy tunes on the jukebox. I retired to my Granny flat a tired but happy chappy.