Stewart Island

The adventure begins with a ferry ride across the Foveaux Strait, which is supposedly the 3rd worse strait to cross in the world. But we were lucky for the waters weren’t to rough, however I heard of stories where almost everyone was sick on the boat because of the waves. The ferry left from Bluff, which is the southern most town on the south island of NZ. Stewart Island was about an hour ferry ride away from the main island. We arrived at Horseshoe bay (Oban) which is the only town on Stewart Island. There are about 600 people that live on the island, which makes it the most sparsely populated island in the world and only has 20 kms of road. BUT miles and miles of tracks!!!

We met up with Liz, who owns a kayak company on the island. We chilled out infront of the hotel (which her mom owns) with her dog Pip and a couple of her other friends. We made plans to get a kayak dropped off for us along the track we were hiking so we could kayak back instead of hiking back. It was really random that we were all chilling in front of the hotel….it was great….everyone was on island time, there was no rushing around or hurrying of any kind! I love it! The longer we sat there the more info she told us about good spots to fish, where to find the good muscles and then she even told us where her key was for their family cabin that happened to be on this little island (Bravo island) that was amongst the other random islands in Paterson inlet. So we were thrilled because this would mean not having to take the tent.

We made arrangements to get a water taxi to drop us off along the track to avoid part of the track which is one of the great walks (you have to pay extra to use there huts and book the track) So we kind of did it the lazy way in, by boat!! HAHAH, all was good so we made it too the first hut in about 2 hours from our drop off point. It was at this hut that I tried to make a woven basket out of Flax leaves…Tried is the key word!! It kind of looks like a basket…but can only fit something the size an egg in it! And it basically looks like a tangled mess!

The next morning we woke up nice and early and headed out on the track. I was lucky to see my first real kiwi (which is another NZ flightless bird that has a really long beak that it sticks in the mud to get grubs and bugs, it actually has nostrils on its beak and smells out its food!) The track was well marked, and there were sections of mud, but nothing that was too crazy! There was magnificent views from the tops and it was actually a really fun track….until the downhill part! I have found that I have a 6 hour limit, after 6 hours I get tired! So the last hour and a bit was tiresome…..especially cuz it was straight down…..my knees were aching! But we made it too doughboy bay, which was a beautiful beach that also contained a hut. We arrived to the hut to meet two other kiwi folk, the plan was to stay an extra day at doughboy, and it turned out the kiwi folk were doing the same.

So Ken, Dave, Steve and I spent the whole next day here on this beautiful beach. It was a cooler day, but didn’t stop us from exploring the beach and finding all sorts of rubbish (garbage) that has been washed up on shore. We also found some quick sand, which was pretty neat and a HUGE sea lion! So if I thought I was scared of some little seals that tired to eat me out of a cave….thank GOD it wasn’t this that came out of the cave, cuz I probably would have really made a mess in my pants for real! He was massive….we were able to get pretty close to him, he didn’t seem to mind to much, he made one grunt and move towards us at one point when we were pushing our luck….but we were pretty respective of the grunt and gave him more space. They are truly amazing animals….I could have sat there all day watching him(I don’t even know if it was a him….didn’t get that close I guess!) but close enough to see his big teeth and hear him delicately scratch his eyes and sides with his flipper!! They are sooo cute! Then he made the move to get back in the water…and that was a site to see. It amazed me how he was able to get all that weight on his four flippers and move into the water!!

The next morning we all got up early and started making our way to the next hut. We left separately, but we ended up meeting up on the track and hiking it together. So it was fun, tramping with other people. We made it down to the beach and decided to take a side trip to a little homestead that use to be in full operation in the 1900’s it was a cute little cabin just off the ocean. We then made our way down the beach to the next hut, it was a long hike across the sand to get to the next hut, but we finally made it! I had my traditional nude dip in the closest river to the hut…it is always the best feeling after a long tramp to just have a nice cold dip and there is nothing better than being one with nature in the nude! It is defiantly not the most flattering exercise for the water is usually freezing but just as you get all your clothes off the sand flies decide to have a feast on you…so it usually consists of a lot of naked running around and then once you get enough nerve to get your whole body in the water….you take the plunge usually by violently moving all your parts as fast as you can while letting out a few cold screams….so as you can see it is quite the process! But well worth it!!! The mason bay hut is a rather big hut and there was quite a few people in the hut. But it is always interesting hearing every ones stories and adventures! Steve was in charge of making dinner this night as I was busy chatting with all the people. Steve then asked me to come over to where he was cooking…and he asked me to smell what was in the pot! It smelled very fruity with a touch of lavender, kind of the same smell as the massage oil that Steve keeps in his toilet bag. Well it turned out that the two bottles the cooking oil bottle and the massage oil bottle look exactly the same. And there seemed to be a little mix up between the two bottles! Opps!! Don’t worry we didn’t eat it…..but our cous cous was lacking flavor as the flavor sachet and dehydrated beef were doused with massage oil!

The next morning we got up and made our way to the next hut which was a super easy walk, but it was located in a really cool spot. It was called Freshwater landing and it had a neat little dock on a river.....so we chilled out and visited with all the people! We had the whole next day at this spot while we waited for our kayak to arrive by water taxi. We awoke in the morning to a beautiful blue sky day, it would have been great to have the kayak earlier but it was also nice to enjoy the weather. I decided to take a day trip and run up a mountain, it was fun not to have a heavy pack weighing you down, and it was nice to have a change of pace. Steve’s foot was bothering him, so I made the trip on my own, it was nice to have some time to myself. I made it too the top and it was amazing panoramic views…I spent close to 4 hours up there….just hanging out on a rock being ‘one’ with nature! I made my way back down to the hut, and met a bunch of new people that just arrived. Steve lucked out, for one of the people that came by was a physiotherapist and he took a look at Steve’s foot and gave him his assessment. It wasn’t long after and our kayak arrived and we were off on our next adventure.

It was getting dark so we had to get a move on, we paddled down this really curvy river that eventually made it’s way into the sea. We paddled our way to the next hut, called Fred’s camp where we stayed the night. We got there right at night fall and made it in just in time! The hut was placed in a really cool place, and I could have spend longer at this hut. The next morning we loaded up the kayak and started exploring all the little islands with in Patterson’s Inlet. We saw a yellow eyed penguin hanging out in the water and we were lucky to catch a few blue cod for supper! We made our way to Ulva island which is a bird sanctuary because it is suppose to be a predatory free zone. It was a neat little place and there really was quite a few birds on the island. Steve took a snorkel in the marine reserve I chickened out for the weather wasn’t the best and the water was freezing! Steve had a really good wetsuit with a hood and gloves he was able to stand the cold… I hung out on the island and walked around listening to birds and then I decided to take a nap in the shelter that was near by. We then made our way to Bravo island where we were excited to see what this cabin looked liked. The key was exactly where Liz explained and it was the cutest little batch ever! It was a little piece of paradise after being all wet and cold from being in a kayak all day. We had a great fire, had a feed of fresh blue cod and enjoyed a nice evening of reading random magazines. The weather really started to turn and it was blowing crazy winds as well as raining a lot. So we were very grateful to be in a warm cabin!

The wind and weather were persistent all night and I woke up to rain blowing in through the windows (they were shut…but obviously not withholding the weather). We tried waiting it out, but it just got worse…so we had to call for a water taxi to get us back to the main land rather than kayak back….knowing Steve and I’s attitude…this was a hard decision…we both wanted to take on the challenge…but I think we made a good choice…for it would have turned into an epic day I am sure of it!!! We made it back to Oban where we set up camp and ate at a really cool fish and chips place….We crossed in the morning by Ferry and our Stewart island adventure came to an end….but we were excited to take on the Dusky track and that was the next adventure!