About Us

Aihe Eco Charters & Water Taxi was custom built in 2007 and launched on 4th December 2007. She is designed to provide a smooth, comfortable ride with excellent viewing for all passengers. Aihe is fully owned and operated by Ruggedy Range™ Wilderness Experience (see: www.ruggedyrange.com), a small Stewart Island owner/operator business. Aihe means dolphin in Maori and the name was chosen because of the special connection between dolphins and humans. A trip aboard Aihe is guaranteed to be one of the highlights of your visit to Stewart Island.

Aihe operates in Stewart Island waters, providing small group charters and cruises, sightseeing, sea bird watching, wildlife viewing and guided tours with natural history and cultural history interpretation. Aihe operates with a marine mammals viewing permit.

Inlet & Bays Discovery

Discover some of Paterson Inlet's natural treasures, enjoy scenery and Ocean Beach on a small group boat & walk tour.

Board Aihe at Golden Bay Wharf for a ride to Little Glory Cove. Take a 20 - 30 minutes walk to Ocean Beach, enjoy the scenery and surf before returning to the jetty. Tour the salmon and mussel farms before heading past Ulva Island. Gaze through crystal clear waters, watch shore and some sea birds and listen to birdsong. Travel to Millars Beach for a 20 minutes walk to the Whalers Base. Return by boat along the northern bank of Paterson Inlet to Golden Bay Wharf. Itinerary may vary to take into account weather and sea conditions.

Time: From 9.00 am for 3.5 to 4.5 hours subject to the number of passengers and prior booking.
Cost: $155.00 per adult and $110.00 per child
Shuttle Pick-Up and Drop-off: $10.00 p.p.
Tour Starts/Ends: Golden Bay Wharf
Minimum: 4 adults (please book if you are only one or two persons as we may already have other bookings.)
Maximum: 12 persons

Paterson Inlet Wildlife Cruise 2.5 hrs

New tour for 2011 /2012 season, details to be published soon.
Adult $100.00 p.p. and child $85.00 p.p.
Minimum: 4 adults (please book if you are only one or two persons as we may already have other bookings.)
Maximum: 12 adults

Stewart Island - Pelagic Birding (sea bird watching)

Enjoy a three hour trip along coastal waters of Stewart Island to view a variety of seabirds at close quarters including handsome albatrosses, shearwaters, prions, yellow-eyed, blue and Fiordland crested penguins.

Time: 3 hrs
Oct to Mar: 9.00 am to 12.00 noon or 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm
Apr to Sept: 9.00 am to 12.00 noon or 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm
May to Aug: 9.00 am to 12.00 noon
Cost: $120.00 per adult, $100.00 per child
Minimum: 4 adults (please book if you are only one or two persons as we may already have other bookings.)
Maximum: 8 persons (larger numbers can be catered for on another vessel)
Tour Starts/Ends: Halfmoon or Golden Bay Wharf

Water Taxi

We can assist with water taxi bookings to various destinations within Stewart Island's coastal waters, including:

• Ulva Island
• Freshwater Landing
• Freds Camp
• Millars Beach
• North Arm
• Port William
• Maori Beach
• Christmas Village

Private Charters & Personalised Tours

Aihe is available for private charters, personalised tours and for those special occasions! Please contact us to discuss.

Guided Nature Walks and Bird Watching

See www.ruggedyrange.com for our great range of guided walks, hikes and bird watching tours.

How to Book

You can book either by: PHONE; FAX; EMAIL, or by VISITING US IN PERSON at Cnr Main Road & Dundee Street.

We operate our own independent booking office in Stewart Island "Birds & Forest Booking Office" so we can offer you the best and most comprehensive advise on our trips to suit your interests, abilities and timeframes. Please contact us directly - no one knows our business like we do!

IMPORTANT: To ensure that our Visitors are always receiving accurate and upto date information about our comprehensive tours and services and that you are not restricted by accommodation choices, we wish to notify our Visitors that:

- We no longer operate through information centres or the New Zealand I-Site Network. We pay for the display of our brochures at selected I-Sites.

- We do not operate through any booking office or information centre in Bluff or Stewart Island, including the flight/ferry centres or competitor booking offices. Please note there is no longer an independent Visitor Centre or Visitor Information Centre in Stewart Island.

Office Opening Times

We are a small business and may sometimes need to be away from the office for guided trips or to pick-up and drop-off clients, our answer machine always tells you when we are back. Please leave a message and we will return your call or better still, send us an email.

OCTOBER TO APRIL(NZ spring, summer, autumn)
Monday to Sunday: 7.30 am to 8.00 pm

MAY TO AUGUST (NZ winter)
Monday to Friday: 8.00 am to 5.30 pm
Saturday: 8.00 am to 2.00 pm. Saturday afternoon closed, except for guided trips
Sunday: Closed except for guided trips

Over winter time, there may be days when the office is not manned, but the phone and emails will be checked regularly. Prior bookings are essential all year round, but especially over winter months.

See below, we accept phone calls, after office hours to 9.00 pm NZ Time.

Page updated: August 2011

Contents

Inlet & Bays Discovery

Paterson Inlet Wildlife Cruise

Stewart Island - Pelagic Birding

Water Taxi

Private Charters & Personalised Tours

Guided Nature Walks & Bird Watching

How to Book

Office Opening Times

Aihe Eco Charters & Water Taxi
"Birds & Forest Booking Office"
Stewart Island - Travel & Activities
Cnr Main Rd & Dundee St,
P O Box 188, Stewart Island, NZ
Ph: 64 3 219 1066
Fax: 64 3 219 1078
Mob: 64 274 784 433
mail@aihe.co.nz
www.aihe.co.nz