A flying visit to Rakiura/Stewart Island to complete the Rakiura Track Great Walk.
After landing at Oban around 1:30pm, the first thing on my mind was gas. Huts on the Rakiura track don't have cooking facilities, and gas canisters can't be carried on commercial flights. So off I trotted to the DOC visitor centre to get the lay of the land, and there I found excellent advice and updates on current track conditions; a locker for my post-tramp supplies, and gas canisters for purchase.
Now ready to hit the trail, it was time for a taxi to the start of the track at Lee Bay.
The track begins right on the coast, passing through a chain link sculpture and meandering along the coastline in the edges of the forest.
The weather was mild and mid afternoon sun filtered through the canopy and gilded distant clouds in warm yellow hues.
Almost one kilometre from the start, the track bends sharpy to the south and begins to drop towards a small sandy beach glimpsed through the trees. Once at sea level, a footbridge crosses a small stream. At this point, the track splits in two: a high tide route heads into the trees, the other option heads across the unexpectedly golden sand. Taking advantage of the tide, I opt for the beach route.
At the end of the beach, the track climbs steeply into the bush where the high tide track is met. From here, the track meanders along high above the sea. The forest here is full of bird life, and the song of tui and fantails is constant.
It's easy going for the most part, the track is well formed and maintained and any steep sections are brief. Eventually the track rounds a sort of headland and begins to wind it's way down to a large beach called Maori Beach.
Just before the beach I am again presented two options: cross a small creek and head straight on to the beach, or stay in the bush. The creek barely covered the soles of my boot so once again I opted for the beach option. At this end of the long beach is a DOC campsite with shelter, water supply and toilet - a good place to stop for a break. The campsite is 4.1 km from the start of the track.
Heading inland from the campsite, a small bridge crosses the creek from earlier - this is where the alternate track option enters the campsite from. In the area are also some old saw mill relics from a time when Maori Beach was home to a forestry milling operation.
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| Maori Beach |
The beach is a beautiful spot and I would quite happily have spent much more time there, but given I hadn't started today's walk until almost 2:30pm, I was conscious of the limited daylight hours available to me and headed off down the long expanse of sand.
At the end of the beach, a large suspension bridge crosses a tidal stream. From there, the track climbs somewhat steeply up a small hill.
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| Maori Beach suspension bridge |
About 1.2 km from the bridge, a junction with the track to North Arm Hut is reached. It's a further 1.9 km to my stop for the night, Port William Hut.
The track to Port William ambles down hill toward Magnetic Beach.
The Port William camp site is passed first, before heading back in to the bush briefly, where there is a track leading to a wharf. A few minutes later, I arrived at the hut, which sits in a large clearing just back from the beach. As it transpired, I needn't have worried quite so much about reaching the hut before dark - I arrived right on 5 pm with about half an hour of daylight to spare, covering the 8.3 km to the hut in 2 hours 35 minutes.
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| Port William Hut |
The hut has a spacious communal area with plenty of bench and a couple of sinks, though space was not really an issue with a half full hut.
Shortly before 10 am I was getting ready to leave when a boat dropped of a couple of DOC rangers who had some post-great walk season maintenance to perform.
Day two starts with some back-tracking to the North Arm Hut junction. Unsurprisingly for me, the track back is a little less pleasant in an uphill direction.
Today's track has a reputation for being extremely muddy, initially though it's the same standard as the track that has come before. The forest changes as I follow the track further inland, with more large trees towering over head. There's never a large change in altitude, though what brief ascents and descents there are can be steep.
About 2.5 km from Port William Hut, the track passes by some more milling relics - a couple of old log haulers used to drag logs along tramways from the milling site to the sawmills.
From here the trail descends to a tannin-stained stream.
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| O L D |
After crossing the bridge, there's a nice wee clearing with a convenient sitting log where I took a quick break to rehydrate and snack.
Now well and truly deep into the forest, the track undulates around the flank of a small hill, eventually crossing a bridge over another stream. Along the way I passed one of the people who was at Port William last night. After crossing the stream, the track climbs steeply to an almost-plateau of sorts.
Huffing and puffing my way up the incline, I stopped near the top for a breather only to be passed by the person I had passed earlier as well as a trio of Canadians who had left the hut after me.
It's somewhere around here that the patches of foretold mud begins in earnest. Most of the time, somewhere under the mud is at the very least the memory of a formed track bed, so ploughing straight on through the middle is often perfectly fine and I found that largely the mud wasn't deeper than boot height.
There was, however, the odd occasion where I plunged far to confidently into mud that ended up being most the way up my calf. Needless to say, gaiters earn their keep here.
Some of these photos are a bit out of order because Blogger decided to rearrange them and is even worse than Word when it comes to nuking your formatting if you try moving an image around.
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| Fun tree |
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| Mud |
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| More mud |
Somewhere along the way, a pair of signposts pointing in the opposing directions of Port William and North Arm huts marks the halfway point of today's track. Further along, an old buoy hangs from a tree. I was told by the person at the DOC visitor centre that this marks half way - it was only now, pondering that it had been some distance since I'd passed the halfway signs, that it occured to me that the buoy indicates the mid point of the whole of the Rakiura track.
Somewhere along the way I passed a hut in the trees just off the track. Possibly for biodiversity/conservation work. After a while there's a gradual descent and a small creek is crossed. The foot bridge has a sign which bears an ominous missive to not cross if the water level is above the bridge deck. Another bridge further along carries the same warning.
North Arm Hut is tantalisingly close now, and the muddy sections are in the past. It's a pleasant walk for the remainder of the journey.
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| Arriving at North Arm Hut |
North Arm Hut is a large, L-shaped structure with two bunkrooms and a separate cooking/living area. There's a plastic tub and scrubbing brush to clean mud off your boots when you arrive. A picnic table in front of the hut looks out over the water, and a couple of tracks (one either side of the hut) go down to small beaches below the hut. It took me 4:45 to cover the 12.6km from Port William Hut.
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| Tiny sandy beach at North Arm Hut |
It started raining in the evening and was still drizzling when I got up the next morning. The gas canister I'd bought at the DOC centre was still fairly full, unable to take it on the flight home I elected to leave it at the hut for anyone who may have need of it on the future (and to save me a couple of hundred grams in my pack).
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| Oyster catchers |
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| Non-sandy beach at North Arm Hut |
The rain stopped stopped and it was time to head out. Today's walk starts with a steep climb back up past the campsite to rejoin the Rakiura Track proper. The track proceeds through the forest before dropping down to edge around a small bay.
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| Tomtit/Miromiro |
From the bay its upwards again across a small headland of sorts before descending gain to cross a stream and arrive at another bay. Semi-submerged in the water below the track is old piece of logging machinery.
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| Thought it might be Robin, probably just a tit. |
Whilst the environment of today's track is in many ways similar to the track of day one - meandering along the coast, up, down, and around bays and headlands, there are some differences too. Patterson Inlet, the body of water adjacent to the track, is quite different to the open ocean coastline of day one. No open horizons, calmer waters and tidal flats abound. Historic logging operations along the inlet also mean an absence of large, tall trees in the canopy.
It's easier going than the previous to days as well, there's similar ups and downs but they seem milder.
From this bay, it's back uphill to cross the neck of sort of peninsula. At one point the track circle around some large boulders. Then it's back down to another small inlet where there's an old disused dam that was part of a sawmill.
Back inland again before reaching another stream/estuary. Here a side track heads upstream a few metres where there's an information sign about a sawmill that used to be on this site.
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| That is a nice boulder |
Shortly afterwards, a foot bridge crosses a somewhat eerie tidal estuary. After some more meanderings, a junction is reached. The left branch continues on back to Oban. I take the right branch for a brief side trip to Kaipipi Bay where I stopped for a quick break and oceanic boot rinse.
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| Kaipipi Bay |
The weather had become a bit rainy, but by now the end is very nearly in site. Back at the junction, the Rakiura track becomes very wide and almost road-like. This is because it was, in fact, a road once upon a time. In they heyday of logging operations this was the most well maintained road on Stewart Island. Nowadays it's only traversed by hikers, but it still makes for a very easy traverse.
Eventually another junction is reached. The Rakiura Track is again the left branch. Turning right will take you along the Ryan's Creek track. For some reason I hadn't realised quite how close I was to the end of the track, and was a little surprised when I arrived at the Fern Gully road end. In hindsight, finishing the track via Ryan's Creek probably would've been a worthwhile addition. However, I'd already pre-aranged a pick up at Fern Gully and didn't want to have someone sitting there waiting for me. I was also conscious of the limited turnaround before my flight at 4pm.
As it turned out, the taxi was waiting for a text before coming to pick me up; Fern Gully was close enough to town that I would happily have walked back; and I probably would've had time to take the longer Ryan's Creek track.
Nevertheless, I was pleased to reach the end of the track and also a little bit sad to be leaving. A total for the day of 3:56 and 11.2 km.
There's definitely more singularly impressive tracks out there, but there's something oddly enchanting about this place. A brilliant few days.
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| Halfmoon Bay/Oban |
Back in Oban, I returned to the DOC VC to collect my belongings, before slowly making my way to the Stewart Island backpackers via the waterfront. There you can pay $5 to use their showers so as to not offend fellow travelers with the odour acquired from a three day tramp. All too soon it was then time to head to the Stewart Island Flights depot (also the local post office) to check in for my flight. I'd hoped to enjoy some fish and chips on the beach before hopping in the van up to the air field, but alas the fish and chip place wasn't yet open. But not even that could tarnish what had indeed been a great walk.
Stats & Maps:
Day 1: Lee Bay to Maori Beach Campsite: 4.1 km, 1 hr 6 mins; Maori Beach to North Arm Junction 2.44 km, 53 min; Junction to Port William Hut: 1.76 km, 32 min. Total: 8.30 km, 2:35.
Day 2: Port William to Log Haulers: 2.59 km, 57 min; Haulers to North Arm Hut: 10.1 km, 3 hr 48 min. Total: 12.7 km, 4:45.
Day 3: North Arm to Dam: 4.37 km, 1 hr 29 min; Dam to Kaipipi Bay: 3.17 km, 1 hr 20 min; Kaipipi to Fern Gully: 3.66 km, 1 hr 7 min. Total 11.2 km, 3:56.
Overall Total: 32.2 km
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| Overview |
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| Day 1 |
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| Day 2 |
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| Day 3 |
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| Google Earth Satellite View |
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