Trekking the stunning Rakiura Track

Monday, 6th January 2025 

The day started at 7am - nice and early - where we got ready for our walk ahead. We had breakfast shortly after, and this was when Mum confirmed that she had injured her knee the day before and couldn’t do the walk with us. This was a little bit sad but the show had to go on, so we packed our lunches and prepared our bags for the walk ahead. We cleared out our room, stashed the remainder of our luggage in the shed onsite and Mum confirmed that she could stay in the lounge while we were away. We headed to the cafe for a pre-walk coffee or hot chocolate before the boys walked over the hill to the jetty in Golden Bay to catch the water taxi to Port William to start our walk.



The boat ride was beautiful and a bit bumpy as we got to see the coast of Rakiura/Stewart Island on our way to Port William. The journey took about 30 minutes and we were keen to set off on our walk as soon as we docked. The walk took 5 hour in total including stops. The first half of the walk was absolutely stunning and a lot of fun! It started through native New Zealand bush, nice and shady, where we got to hear some native birdsong from tui, kakariki, and kereru. The walk then followed the coast, moving from bay to bay to bay with some bush in between. We made excellent time getting to Māori Beach, where someone had a swim to show off his butterfly skills and to be able to claim that he’d had a swim on Stewart Island. We had a snack, took photos, and then resumed walking - the track overlooking many beautiful bay. Around each corner there was another stunning view. Our pace slowed as we took more and more photos, but it still was not long before arriving at our lunch stop, Lee Bay. Here we ate, took more photos and relaxed our feet. 



The bush walk concluded shortly thereafter, and we found the chain sculpture representing the other end of the connection to Stirling Point. We knew that this next part of the journey was going to be a bit tougher, so we psyched ourselves up for the road walk. Unfortunately, the sun was in full glory, there was little shade, the road was dusty and the hill steep.  Before long our feet were hurting, we were hot and our water bottles were running low. There was a fair bit of moaning at this point, and the cute little bay settlements couldn’t stop us from dragging our feet or relieve the sense that we needed to make better time to make the ferry. We watched enviously as cyclists on electric bikes whizzed past and we trudged on along the road. Hill, bay, hill, bay. The settlements were beautiful and remote and friendly looking, but we were just focussing on walking. It took longer than we had hoped, but it wasn’t too much longer and we were walking past the Presbyterian church into Oban. 


The next part went relatively quickly. We met up with Mum, had a well-deserved ice cream each, picked up our luggage and headed to the ferry terminal for our ride back to the Mainland. The return journey was not as rugged as the trip over and we entertained ourselves playing games. Back at Bluff, we picked up our car and drove to Invercargill for fuel and some grocery supplies. Dad also needed a coffee to keep himself awake, so he picked up a Mammoth and we went into the Catlins towards our Slope Point destination. The Southern Scenic Highway took us through rugged looking farmland - nothing too dissimilar to Northland actually. 


We arrived at our accommodation - a lovely farm cottage - and set about unpacking. Some of us were tired, and some a bit sore, and after getting a woodfire going, we each retired to our own spaces to relax. 


A little later, with a warm fire going, the boys gathered to watch the movie “Baby Driver” while Mum rested, and then we ate dinner and went to bed.



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