Ulva Island — Local services in Stewart Island / Rakiura Community

A tiny, beautiful Juriassic nature preserve

A short trip by inexpensive water taxi or ferry from the small New Zealand Southlands island Stewart Island, the even tinier Ulva Island is a beautiful, sometimes mysterious national nature and native Jurassic plants preserve. It is open for a limited number of visitors for guided walking tours, independent trekking, bird and sealife watching and/or just outdoor enjoyment. It is certainly worthy of a visit. Keep in mind to make reservations for you stay on Stewart Island, as there are none on Ulva. The entire Stewart Island has only a population of 380 people and the number of hotels,motels can probably be counted, on one hand (there are B&B's and holiday rental homes on the island but they should be booked months ahead of your trip. On Stewart, you can also arrange numerous trekking tours, boat tours and other sightseeing to make your trip to the far south busy and worthwhile. And, personally, we'd recommend dining at the 1 fine dining restaurant on the island, Church Hill Restaurant, a short walk from the "downtown" ferry terminal in Oban. You...

Took the Rakiura Water Taxi ($30 return) to Ulva Island with Dan and spent 3 hours walking around - make sure to book your spot! Just followed the tracks (we’d bought a $2 Ulva Island booklet at the DoC info centre the day before) and used the booklet. If there’s a seat on the track be sure to stop and listen, chances are you’ll see/hear some awesome birds! Great way to see what predator free looks like for the bird life. Definitely a must do when you come to Stewart Island (bring your togs if the weather is nice too!) pack some snacks and don’t forget some water. Plenty of toilet stops (& they don’t smell either!!) Didn’t really need...

Such an amazing sanctuary for native NZ birds, pest free so they can thrive as nature intended. Allow a good 3 hours to get around everything, maybe more if your taking young children. Our 3 children (7, 5 & 5) walked all but 1 of the bushtracks available in about 2.5hrs. Ulva island is accessible by a short 5-10 minute ride by water taxi which is easy to book. As someone who gets seasick very easily, I had no trouble at all with this boat ride. There is the option to sit outside at the back of the boat which is less bouncy and wobbly. I tried both and was fine in both instances. Definitly worth a visit and will happily...