The 23rd of November 1941 was a terrible day for the Braggs of Stewart Island, a day preferably forgotton but nonetheless commemorated for its everlasting impact on a close island family. Private A L Bragg was killed during the Seige of Tobruk, while serving in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force and part of the Allied 8th Army. He was 31. On a tiny family cemetery overlooking peaceful Bragg bay, Private Bragg is remembered with that moving epitaph beginning 'He shall not grow old……..'

'He was my uncle', Donald Bragg explains when I asked him about the memorial. Donald is the guide for our walk through native bush, along sandy beaches and nature trails on Ulva Island, in Paterson Inlet, the most visited bay of Stewart Island. He is keen to tell us how birds have returned to Ulva…..'the reason that this island has all the bird life is that rats were removed a few years ago, took six long years to see the last of them off. You'll see now why we ask you to check in your rucksacks for rats before you land here'. On the beach he spots a heap of kelp. Cutting a large piece off, he demonstrates how the Maori who used to visit the island seasonally in search of food used to stuff slain muttonbirds into the hollow chamber then sew up with sturdy grass. Perfectly airtight, the birds used to be preserved for days.

The thirty minute journey back to Half Moon Bay, or Oban, on the 'mainland' of Stewart Island is not so rough that we can't have a complimentary coffee courtesy of tour operator Real Journeys. That was not the case on the hour long ferry crossing from Invercargill, across the Foveaux Strait. We could not work out why the crew slipped on rubber gloves. The explanation came after 30 minutes during which the sea became increasingly tumultuous, the twin hulled boat roller-coasting through twenty foot seas, slamming into a swell generated by the meeting of the Tasman Sea and Pacific and Southern Oceans. For some, looking at the horizon which is an old landlubber's trick to stave off sea-sickness, was ineffective. The crew member who came to the assistance of a suffering young man sitting opposite us, upon inspecting his sick bag, remarked "You didn't have much for breakfast, did you?" A few passengers on that journey spent the time with their heads in white paper bags, exchanged as necessary for fresh empty ones by the crew. Visitors who have sensitive stomachs and/or deep pockets fly from Invercargill on the short 20 minute hop to Stewart Island.

We had booked 'Rakiura Retreat' (Rakiura being the Maori name for Stewart Island, meaning 'glowing skies') not because it was quiet and lonely sounding, but because most of the other hotel and motel rooms on the island were already taken. Those rooms in guest houses that were available commanded serious money for two nights stay. The motel, despite being noted in a TripAdvisor report as being 'in a remote area of Stewart Island', is in fact nothing of the sort, merely a 5 minute drive or 20 minute walk to Oban the passage of which is enhanced by two beautiful unspoilt bays. The popularity of the weekend was because Friday 6th February was Waitangi Day. In the North Island, more particularly in the Bay of Islands where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, the annual commemoration meeting has become more of a political lobby, where continuing Maori grievances over land rights and rights to water resources, are the subject of discussion and not a little pressure to right what some see as continuing injustice. The other side of the story is that many New Zealanders consider that reparation for confiscated land, amongst other injustices, was agreed and implemented some time ago and that continuing demands from Maori have no grounds and are simply persistent gold digging.

For the south island, it is a day off work and the usual column of caravans, trailers and boats head from the cities to lakes and mountains. Stewart Island has holiday fever also, though this would merely be an extension of daily life for many islanders. The Retreat supplies a car for guests' free use. 'Just fill up the tank with what petrol you use and if you don't manage to get the garage just leave the money on the table', manageress Fiona explains. 'And when you leave the car beside the wharf just leave the car open and the keys in the door tray'. There are not many places you could go with a misappropriated car on Stewart Island as there are only 27km of roads and they all end in the bush a few kilometres from Oban.

We drive most of the island roads in an hour then noticing that the seafront road in Oban is blocked by no entry signs, decide to investigate. The annual pie eating competition is under way on the beach. Ten men sit at a long table each with five pies in front of each of them. Supporting wives, girlfriends or partners stand behind, encouraging their men, with a break from cooking dinner in sight. As entertainment, it is quite unexpected, though not surprising in a place where the regular population is only 400 almost equally split between males and females. While North Islanders talk politics, Stewart Islanders are more interested in how many pies can be eaten in five minutes.