This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
= by Edward O’Mahony After my plans for the Queens birthday weekend fell through I turned up at the club meeting on Wednesday night wondering if there was any chance of getting on one of the club trips for that weekend, ie in two days time! I first approached the medium/fit trip enquiring as to the possibility of heading away with them only to be told, as feared and expected, that it really was too late as all arrangements had been made. I then bumped into my old flatmate Mike who just happened to be leading the medium trip doing the Southern Crossing of the Tararuas. I was again told that I had left it very late but he said he would try and get me on it. Bingo! In gratitude I told him that I would write an article for the WTMC newsletter (of which he is editor) about one of the Great Walks that I did in the South Island during the summer. So here I am, six months after said promise, finally putting pen to paper.
After driving at break neck speed down to Bluff to catch the morning ferry across to Stewart Island I was informed that the sailing had been delayed due to rough seas. This was hardly surprising as I had spent the past few days hanging round Invercargill waiting for the rotten weather to improve. It hadn’t! Tired of waiting I had decided that regardless of weather conditions I would go to Stewart Island anyway.
After a delay of two hours we set sail. To describe the crossing as rough would be similar to saying that it can sometimes be cold in the Antarctic. There were waves breaking over the boat!
In order to avoid seasickness I kept looking out over the horizon, that’s when I could actually see the horizon. Thankfully I managed to keep that mornings breakfast down. Others were not so lucky, in particular the German girl in the seat next to me. People often describe Ireland as having forty shades of green, the same could be said of this girls complexion. My concern and compassion for her was tempered by the knowledge that if she did get sick on me I would have little hesitation in making her walk the plank.
When the Foveaux Express finally docked at Oban I was delighted to see that the rain had stopped and for split seconds at a time the sun would actually appear. I made straight for the visitors centre and purchased a single Great Walks hut pass it being my intention to do the 29km track over two days, it now being lunchtime. A Great Walks hut pass for the Rakiura track is only $10 a night which is a bargain considering that some of the Great Walks (Kepler, Routeburn & Milford) are $40 a night. However in order to do the Rakiura track you will need to spend the best part of $100 to get to and from Stewart Island.
The track itself is a circuit, starting and finishing at Oban. For the first few kilometers I was walking on boardwalk which I found pretty dull. I couldn’t help wondering whether I should have worn a pair of slippers and brought a shopping trolley to push in order to make it that bit more challenging as the track is also fairly flat. However once the boardwalk stopped it was obvious why it had been placed there as it was as wet and as muddy as anything I had experienced in the Tararuas. Apart from the odd shower the rain held off allowing me to get to North Arm hut in a pretty dry state.
North Arm Hut is renowned for being a good place to spot kiwis and the hut was therefore almost full. Many trampers stay the maximum two nights in this hut in order to spot one. Apparently the previous night the whole hut had seen a kiwi, the whole hut that is bar one girl who for some inexplicable reason nobody had woken. After eating my dinner I wandered outside to try and spot one but no such luck. As I was getting tired ! headed to bed after 30 minutes. Next morning I awoke to be told that those who had stayed up had been rewarded with a sighting but at least I could take comfort in the fact that most people in the hut had, like myself, slept right through the night. After a leisurely breakfast I set out on the rest of the track back to Oban which was a shorter leg than I had done the previous day; in fact I think I had done two days tramping in one day as they (D.O.C.) recommended doing the track over 3 days which is fine if you walk with a zimmer frame but must be pretty boring otherwise. I arrived back to Oban around lunchtime and in time to catch a ferry that was soon to depart. Just as we were boarding the boat the rain started pouring down again and normal service was resumed.
All thing considered I’m glad I did the Rakiura track although sorry I missed out on seeing a kiwi. I do however think its claim to be a great walk is pretty tenuous as there are no breath taking views like I experienced on other great walks and the cynic in me is of the opinion that it was named as a great walk in order to draw people over to Stewart Island.
eee eee ee eeeee