Another brilliantly sunny morning as we awoke, but it did start to cloud up as the morning wore on. Nothing remotely threatening, though.

A somewhat sour note was struck as we left the lodge, as the hostess, Lisa, obviously wanted us out of there as soon after the checkout time as possible. Such a contrast to Hana who had welcomed us on arrival. I will definitely be feeding back on this, as it took some gloss off what has been a great experience. Jean’s cold had now reached its peak and she’d had a rotten night’s sleep, so that didn’t help either.

We were dropped off down in Oban at 10 a.m. with the flight back to Invercargill due at 1.30 p.m. Fortunately, we were able to check in at the flight depot immediately and leave our bags there. That left us plenty of time to wander around.

We went to the little museum here, which was not uninteresting, but was mainly a collection of old memorabilia from around 150 years ago.

After this, we went our separate ways – Jean to go shopping, me to the pub (for a coffee. Honest.)

After a debate about whether we should switch to the ferry on the way back rather than the plane, bearing in mind our very uncomfortable experience on the way over here, we decided to stick with the plane. Right decision as it turned out, as the flight back was smooth and we both had some legroom.

Stewart Island has been a blast – a lovely place. The views have been wonderful, and we have been very lucky with the weather (unlike Queenstown…… )

Some pics here from the flight:

The hotel shuttle met us as arranged, and we were back in the same room as when we vacated it a couple of days ago. Nice – like coming home!

Did bugger-all for the rest of the day. I was dispatched to the local pharmacy for various cold remedies, and we took advantage of the guest laundry. These things are important, you know…..

A really nice steak meal ensued before we retired for the night.

Next stop is Dunedin, around two and a half hours away on the east coast of South Island.