What New Zealand could have looked like everywhere

Three years ago, Charlie and I spent the xmas holiday in Stewart Island. The forest on this remote island on the southern tip of the South Island was stunning but we felt that by doing the Northwest Circuit, we had only seen a limited part of the island with a large chunk left to discover. We finally made it back there, to the island where time stays still and hopefully will continue to stay that way into the future too. We started planning the trip a few months back together with Mike, who was also keen to join us. Once we committed to the date to get to/from the island, we could only keep our fingers crossed that the weather would be nice. Stewart Island in the pouring rain can be pretty miserable.

Packing for our 6 day tramp seemed to take forever. I think a few beers might have had something to do with it. From Bluff, we took a charter boat to the southern end of Stewart Island at Port Pegasus for the drop off. We met some oldies on the boat who had done the same route as we were intending to take and their "trip leader" was giving us advice on where to camp etc. Most of his advice was useful, some of it..not so much we later found out.

It was a gorgeously sunny day and very calm: ideal weather to cross Foveux Strait, which often has very rough seas. When the boat had left us behind, all we could hear was bellbirds singing their hearts out in the forest around us. We soon found DoCs warning sign saying that the track we were about to use stopped being maintained in 2004. Oh, gosh, NOW they tell us!

In reality we were all surprised how large the track in front of us was. The skipper on the boat told us that Port Pegasus was in 1890s a large settlement with several stores and a post office. It was all set up to cater for the 200 tin miners trying to become rich during the brief tin-mining boom. There's still evidence of their dams, water races and mine-shafts in the Tin Range, which was the area which we planned to spend two nights in. Nice views over the windswept canopyWe camped in a very sheltered spot close to the old dam structure.
The views were amazing from the nearby saddle. We went for a evening stroll after our tasty risotto to get a glimpse of the hills we were about the conquer the following day.
Returning to the tent we had stunning views towards the south where we could see the pointy granite Gog and Magog to the right of the picture.
The light also brought out the best of the white flowering manuka. I don't think I have ever seen so many manuka flowers as this year. Some trees are completely white and the ground below would look snowy.
The next day provided ideal conditions for us to walk over the range. We had amazing views across the majority of the island from Gog and Magog in the south to Doughboy bay in the west (as shown on picture below), Paterson Inlet to the east and Ruggedy Range and Mt Anglem in the north.
Granite rock formations which were up to a couple of hundred meters high made the landscape look very different to other places in NZ.
The track was mainly easy to follow, but there were a few sections were the bush had won the battle against the trail. The manuka bushes were super tough and could really hurt when you tried to walk through it. Mike was loving it.
After climbing Mt Allen (750 m) as a little side trip, we found this tropical looking lake below the mountain. It may look tropical but the cold wind certainly put me off swimming.
Although the trail was fairly easy to follow, we always had to keep a look out for cairns, and sticks that regularly had been erected by fellow trampers to lead the way in case of fog. Without too much difficulty we found another great camping spot a couple of kms of bushbashing around Mt Allen. Mike was tired (as usual) and had a snooze while I was slaving away with dinner arrangements (as usual). No, I didn't mind at all and I enjoyed cooking nice food so that I had something special to look forward to during the day. Eating super tasty food is part of the attraction.
Manuka flowers
Each night we would scout around the camp and listen out for kiwis with the hope to see one of them. Kiwis are flightless nocturnal birds of which there are five different species, all are endangered because of predators such as stoats, cats and dogs. In New Zealand the bird is now seen as a national symbol for the country.

We often saw traces of them in the form of large beak holes in the ground where one had been poking around with the beak to find worms, insects and seeds. We could often hear them but they were too shy to show up. Charlie was getting increasingly frustrated every night that went passed without having seen a kiwi. Another trace of a kiwi...but still no sighting
The island is famous for being wet and boggy. On the third day we made it over the Table Hill (thanks to sticks showing the way through the fog) and down towards the Rakeahua Hut through numerous boggy sections. It got even worse when we linked into the Southern Circuit track, which is a far more well trodden trail.
The contrast from the Tin Range's low growing vegetation to the tall lush trees that welcomed us when we dropped down a few hundred meters in elevation from the Table Hill. This was the part of the track that I enjoyed the most of all during our entire 6 day journey.
My favourite fern - the kidney fern
After not seeing anyone for three days, it was a bit of a sudden change to get to the crowded Rakeahua Hut. Since many trampers were walking the same direction around the Southern Circuit, we often ended up sharing the huts during the following three night with almost the same people. Stewart Island attracts a range of people, many are drawn to the remoteness of the place. We met a Australian guy who had spent one whole month on his won in the bush. The only company he had was a book on Stewart Island flora.

I enjoyed our first three days the very most; the days we were away from people and mud. Once one the Southern circuit we saw some stunning spots but it didn't feel as secluded. We saw lots of red flowering Rata trees along the coast between Doughboy Bay and Mason Bay. Maybe it can make our xmas card for 2011.

Charlie and I had managed to see one kiwi on the beach of Doughboy Bay when the darkness had fallen. We didn't see it that clearly. It was more like a shadow moving fast over the beach. All the insects in the washed up kelp and seaweed make a yummie meal for little kiwis.

One kiwi wasn't enough. We wanted to see more of them and the best spot to see them is in Mason Bay, where we had our last night. Mike didn't want to get wet feet in his soaked boots, hence the plastic bags. It's the latest fashion I've seen on the cat walk. We were lucky and saw another little kiwi bird wondering around minding his/her own business. It came very close to us and didn't seem to notice us at all.

Charlie got up in the early hours of the morning and saw a couple of them in front of the hut He stayed up until dawn for some extreme kiwi watching. He had this little fellow hovering around him (including between his toes) for hours. It was with sadness we had come to the end of our journey. The walk between Mason bay and Freshwater Hut was painfully dull:
The Freshwater Hut is located by a river where the water taxi came and picked us up to take us over Paterson Inlet to Oban (the town centre of Stewart Island). It had been an awesome tramp, one full of crap talking, plant and bird watching, tea drinking, chocolate eating and sleeping. The hot shower in Oban was priceless and the beer at the local pub was to die for (unfortunately..the Speights Old Dark they had was so bad that Mike almost died from drinking it).
I hope that we'll be able to go back there in not too distant future. We still have a few more places to check out. Gog and Magog are certainly high on the list.