A couple of years ago we shifted from chemical household cleaners to more natural products. We found things were just as clean and we feel much better for the change as well. Some of those chemical cleaners are pretty nasty to live with. If you'd like to try them here are the recipes :-
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Light cleaning (glass, mirrors, dusty surfaces) ........... for a 1 litre trigger pack. 300ml white vinegar, 500 water cooled boiled water, 8 drops essential oils (lavender ??) Spray on and use a micro-fibre cloth to wipe on and use a newspaper to wipe off. Works really well, nice sparkly windows and mirrors.
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Heavy Cleaning (Bathrooms, toilets, floors etc) ..........Same quantities of vinegar & water plus 5 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of lemon
A recent initiative has been to support Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust. For some time we have been concerned about our heavy use of carbon based energy and although measures we have put in place as well as those proposed will reduce this to some extent it is still high. We directly consume significant amounts of diesel each year for domestic hot water and heating plus what is burnt for electricity by the local power supplier. My background is forestry and although I became a Protection Forest Ranger my initial training was in production. With this in mind we have decided to fund tree planting as a way of countering our carbon footprint.
Planting trees on Stewart Island seems a bit pointless…. the Island has lots of trees and very high land cost. So we have investigated a partnership arrangement with Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust in Wanaka, a place with few native trees surviving. We now donate one tree for each “guest night” and one for each Guided Ulva walk. We will not own the trees once planted, but I have estimated that within 8 years we will be carbon neutral and from then on increasingly in credit. And the trees planted will provide a valuable amenity resource for visitors to the area concerned. The trust is based at Wanaka and its mission is the regeneration of native plant cover in the Wanaka environs. It has its own plant nursery and sources local seed, thus ensuring that plantings are a suitable provenance
click here for the trust's website http://www.tekakano.org.nz/
Our aim is to give our guests the
best possible experience with the least possible impact on the
local community and environment.
We are committed to sustainable tourism and are very proud of
our recent two
Qualmark Enviro Gold awards, one for Sails Ashore, the other for
Kowhai Lane.
We together with several other Southland Tourist operators are part of a pilot program on Sustainable Tourism . Click Here to visit Venture Southland's web page and find out more on the project's aims. Participation in this program has encouraged us to look quite seriously at just what we do and also how we can do things better.
Just living in this world has an impact on the environment around us. We guess the trick is to keep our impact as small as possible. That's not necessarily easy on Stewart Island as the Island is to such a large extent dependant on non renewable energy sources. The Island runs almost literally on diesel fuel, firstly for transport to and from the mainland, secondly all our electric power is diesel generated as there are no suitable rivers for hydro power and thirdly we use diesel for all our domestic hot water and central heating as it is the most cost efficient method available to us.
All our domestic water is collected from our roof, stored in large tanks, UV treated and micro filtered before use, exactly as "Stewart Island Rain" bottled drinking water is prepared. And Stewart Island Rain won NZ's boutique bottled drinking water competition so it's pretty good water to drink.
We sort all domestic waste and recycle wherever possible. A large compost bin and worm farm deals with garden and food waste and also contributes to our organic garden and glass house fertility. We grow as much of our vegetable requirements as possible.
Rakiura Environment Trust
Like many places in New Zealand, Stewart Island has it's share of introduced mammalian pests. In particular rats, opossums and feral cats are to be found around the village, as well as the wider Island environment. A local trust has taken on the task of trapping and poisoning these pests within the village and in particular the Ackers Point area.
The result has been quite impressive with so far this year almost a 1000 rats being trapped. Stewart Island Robins have been reintroduced to Ackers Point and the ultimate aim is to release Saddlebacks. Neither species can survive with rats. We have noticed and with our guests enjoy increased bird life in our garden. The work of the trust can only improve this for the enjoyment of all. After 30 months in the UK Anne has noticed a marked increase in bird life here in the village. Long may the trend continue. As well as bird life we are noticing a significant increase in small plants such as orchids within the trapped area. Many of which are difficult to find further back in the forest. We service one line of some 30 odd traps based around Observation Rock and down as far as the Post Office.
Quite apart from the bird life rats are a problem for any householder and as well can do significant damage in a vegetable garden. This winter we have not noticed any rat sign for the first time ever around Sails Ashore or Kowhai Lane and "our" trap has caught only two.
The trust is funded
entirely by donations and although there is a paid staff member,
much of the work is done by volunteers. We have post cards by
Gilbert van Reenen on sale and all profits from this go to the
trust and in addition many guests ask to make a cash donation.
Thus helping enable the work continue.
Click Here
for Sails Ashore Certificate (124 kb)
Click Here for
Kowhai Lane Certificate (125 kb)
Click here to
visit the trusts web site
Both Kowhai Lane & Sails Ashore are honoured to each sponsor 5 hectares of Habitat Restoration.
The trust has commissioned a study to investigate the possibility of eradicating rats, feral cats and opossums from all of Stewart Island.
It makes very interesting and thought provoking reading and with the success of Ulva Island showing the way is perhaps the future for Stewart Island.
Click here to read the entire document.
RSSStewart Island presents us with an ever-changing cycle as the seasons progress. It always annoys us that we can only share the current season with our guests and so they miss out on the special things that happen over the rest of the year.
So we have decided to have an occasional diary of the things we notice around the village and on Ulva Island. click here to view our news letter.
Or to subscribe to it as an RSS feed
Quite apart from the conservation aspect of fuel minimisation the rapidly increasing costs of liquid fuel certainly focuses our thinking on efficient use of energy.
The village has long been home range for Long Tailed Bats, and as a young Forest Ranger I remember being fascinated by my first view of them swooping around the slipways one summer evening 40 years ago. Recently DoC asked for volunteers to take part in a survey to get a handle on just where Long Tailed Bats might be found.
So this summer we spent an hour or so on several fine evenings walking set transit lines around the village. We have audio monitors so we can hear their ultrasonic "pings" as they hunt.
As yet very little is known about this population, perhaps the only one on the Island. Bats are quite hard to capture apparently, and so to equip with radio location beacons to find their roost.
