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Back to Civilisation

Entry 938, on 2009-02-03 at 21:24:49 (Rating 2, Travel)

I just got back from 4 days on Stewart Island. For those of you who don't know, Stewart Island is an island to the south of the two main islands of New Zealand at 47 degrees south. It has a population of just over 400 and mostly consists of New Zealand's 4th largest national park.

Because its so far south the weather is often less than perfect! Even in summer winds can blow up from the Antarctic (there's only ocean between Stewart Island and Antarctica) and cause the temperature to drop. It never got really cold while we were there but it certainly wasn't as good as I would expect for mid summer.

Yesterday we took a charter boat out for some fishing and to explore Ulva Island. We caught plenty of blue cod, plus a few other fish. Also saw a large (3 to 4 meter) shark circling the boat! And the weather stayed good for most of the day.

When I got back into an area with cell and Internet coverage I found 3 texts, 8 voice messages, and 163 emails waiting. Vodafone have no coverage on the island (they really are pretty useless) so my cell phone didn't work, but I did find one Internet cafe where I spent a few minutes. Basically I was isolated from computers and the Internet for 4 days - that's the longest time without technology that I can remember!

But its back to civilisation again today and work tomorrow. At least I had fresh blue cod for dinner tonight!

Comment 1 (4043) by Anonymous on 2014-06-24 at 16:30:04:

Vodafone does have mobile coverage on the island now

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