Steward Island

17/01/12-18/01/12

Today I jumped on the ferry to Stewart Island sometimes considered as New Zealand’s third island, the ride out was to be very rough. It is widely known that the crossing can be wild almost to the point that it is considered a standing joke among those who know about it – but to people like me who don’t have sea legs the crossing is a bit of a nightmare. Without even leaving the harbour the boat was already being thrown up and down with each passing wave, I’ve had a few rough crossings on boats before but this took the biscuit. I managed to last about 15 minutes before I lost my breakfast, fortunately it only takes an hour to cross! Very shaken I’m glad when we safely pull into Oban harbour and I can have a much needed nap at my hostel. In the afternoon not feeling my best I have a slow wonder around town, sorting out hire gear for my trek and letting the local DOC office know what my plans are.

Awaking up feeling refreshed the next day, I do several local walks to get a feeling of what terrain I can expect on my walk. Immediately it becomes clear that most of the bush is made up from fern plants, all different sizes and colours of green. My first track takes me along the coast before heading inland to follow an old bullock trail that was used to shift wood to the old lumber mills that use to operate around the island. Halfway back I divert off to follow another path further into the ferns. In the afternoon I head east around the harbour to follow the coastal road round to a 100 year old stone house that use to be owned by a local shipbuilder to a secluded beach looking out at the small islands that surround the northern approach to Oban. That evening I went down to the harbour front to wait behind the fuel storage tanks to see if I could see the little blue penguins that come to the nearby rocks at night to sleep. After a half hour wait sure enough three tiny penguins swam up and settled down behind the rocks to sleep.

19/01/12-21/01/12

My next three days would consist of tramping the Rakiura Track on Stewart Island. My first day trek was from Oban harbour and took me along the north east coast to my night’s stay at Port William hut. The first leg was 12km long but the first few kilometres included the walk from the harbour along sealed roads to the official start of the track under the anchor structure at Lee Bay. It was raining in the morning but by the time I started off the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. For the first half of the trek I didn’t meet any other people until I reached Maori beach and suddenly everyone seemed to appear. I stopped off here for lunch to let a shower pass before setting off again to continue the track which went along the beach. By early afternoon I had finally reached Port William hut, the day’s leg had only taken me 3.5 hours with breaks. The estimated time given was 6 hours but speaking to the hut warden later I discovered that all the great walks times in New Zealand are overly generous as people of all levels of fitness under take them. The days walking had been pretty easy as most of it was on gravelled paths through the bush, but my backpack was starting to cause me pain near to the end. The hut itself was situated next to a large beach, inside it was separated into sleeping and living quarters with toilets outside. The kitchen area didn’t have gas stoves but I had brought my hired out one with me, there was running water which is safe to drink. Throughout the day various other hikers turned up, most of these would be continuing on the same route as me after so we got to know each other well. After settling down and reading and cooking our volunteer hut warden gave us a brief safety talk that night before we agreed that if anyone heard a kiwi that night we would wake up the others and sit outside to try and see it. One had been seen two nights before but unfortunately none appeared that night, or none woke us up.

On day two I set off with a fellow young hiker to make our way to our next overnight stay at North Arm hut, south of our current position. The weather was terrible, all night it had poured down with rain and it didn’t look like clearing when we set off. With Stewart Island being situated in the roaring forties the weather was very unpredictable, one moment it would be bright and sunny the next there would be gale force winds with pouring rain. Today’s leg took us through the middle of the island to a bay on the other side. Shortly after setting off we came across a deer posing in the bush on top of a rock, out here they are considered a pest with hunters coming to the island to kill them. Today’s route was 13km long and proved to be tougher than the previous day, all day we were battered by gale force winds and rain. There was a steep climb halfway through and the second section was riddled with tree roots and heavy mud. With little rain having fell for the last two weeks the water just set on the surface, even faced with these conditions we safely made it to the hut in 4 hours with breaks. Once inside and clothes changed, we set about getting the hut’s wood stove working so we had some heat to dry our clothes. Once again the hut filled up that afternoon though there were more people this time; one was nearing the end of doing the 10 day North West track. The same routine as yesterday took place though there was no hut warden, the rain continued to pour down that night.

The third and final leg of the Rakiura Track finished off back where I had started at Oban; once again I was accompanied by the same fellow hiker as the day before. As soon as we set off the rain stopped and luckily it was to hold off for the rest of our trek that day. The first part was on a new track; it had only been open shortly before and took us along the coast line to several beaches. Some parts where still waiting to be gravelled as they had replaced the old boardwalks which use to be there. The track continued along the coast throughout the day though mostly it was over boardwalks. The final part was along an old bullock track which use to be used when the saw mills were operational; the evidence of them had been present over the length of the great walk in the form of old rusty machinery. The days walk proved to be quite easy as the most of the in climbs were steady and the mud wasn’t too bad along the track. In just under 4 hours I was back at my hostel where my walk had started several days before. It was the first multi-day trek I had ever done and over three days I had covered around 37km. To be honest it was easier than I had expected and my pack hadn’t caused me as much trouble as I thought it would. If you pushed yourself you could complete the trek in one day but for the experience I was glad I had done it in three. The landscape had been amazing; it had been like stepping back in time to a prest age with the bush made up of different ferns and trees. The only shame was that the weather had kept the wildlife away, but I still managed to see a variety of animals from oyster catchers to deer’s and even jellyfish. The elusive kiwi didn’t make an appearance, maybe another time.