A BIRDING PARADISE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC

New Zealand's birdlife has been heavily affected by introduced feral predators, but Rakiura is an avian utopia.

- CANDICE MARSHALL

JUST METRES FROM the ferry that's carried me across the blustery Foveaux Strait to Stewart Island / Rakiura, New Zealand's third-largest island, a group of variable oystercatchers is foraging on the foreshore. These endemic coastal seabirds are striking-jet-black feathers, bright coral-pink legs and vivid orange markings, like fluorescent eyeliner, around J the eyes.

While continuing along the bay and through the small township of Oban - the only settled area of this remote island 30km south of NZ's South Island - my attention is drawn to rustling leaves in a small tree just off the footpath. Upon closer inspection, there among the branches is not one, but a pair of tui. The birds - also endemic to this island - are nonchalantly going about their business, feeding on the nectar of a native flax, one of NZ's most ancient plant species, blissfully unaware of the human admiring them from below. The tui are adorned with deep-blue, green, purple and bronze glossy feathers - a royal-looking plumage that contrasts delightfully with a quirky white fluffy tuft on their throats.

On a high from my tui encounter, I stroll up the hillside to check in to my accommodation - Stewart Island Lodge. It's not long before I've found myself the perfect spot on the balcony, surrounded by garden, overlooking the picturesque Halfmoon Bay. I stare off into the distance, but my daydream state is broken by a sound coming from the raised garden bed beside me.