Mid-aftemoon, we arrived at the western-most island in the archipelago... New Island. We anchored in Ship Harbour on the east side, went ashore for our last outing on this amazing trip - some great hiking and nature watching. This is perhaps the driest region in the archipelago and is famous for its wildlife concentrations. It consists of two joint properties... Tony and Kim Chater own the northern half and the New Island South Conservation Trust owns the southern half (it is known as the New Island South Wildlife Preserve). This in-perpetuity trust is managed by lan Strange, the former owner of the property and founder of the trust. Sheep are still grazed on fenced-in land at various places on the island, but experiments with re-establishing tussock habitat are taking place in others. We took the shorter of the two walks that were offered thinking to relax and enjoy our last visit ashore. We left from near the settlement and hiked to the windward side of the island to view colonies of rockhopper penguins, black-browed albatrosses, and king shags.

We had a beautiful day for our visit - bright sun and not much wind. We enjoyed the nest mounds that the birds used, and the rockhoppers with their funny eye-brows were a great addition to our penguin species "collection." The tussock grass was over Doug's head on the walk between the two colonies we visited. He was 5 feet away and I couldn't see him. Good thing there are no big predators here!  A lovely end to a lifetime experience. And yes, I would do it again. In a heart beat. All of it!