In 2012, we spent three months exploring New Zealand, where trails are tracks and hiking is tramping. We did seven Great Walks. Sometimes we camped in our tent, and sometimes we stayed in huts provided by the Department of Conservation (DOC).
In March, we spent three days and two nights on the Rakiura Track in Rakiura National Park. John was 59 and I was 57. We camped in our tent on this trip. The Rakiura Track is located on Stewart Island, off the coast of the southern tip of the South Island. Because it is on an island, we needed to either take a boat or fly. We chose the short flight.
The Rakiura Track was quite a change of pace compared to the other Great Walks we had already done in New Zealand. There were no mountains. Instead, there were beaches with expansive views of the ocean …
… and windswept trees.
The easy track begins along the coast before entering the woods to cross a northern portion of the island.
The track through the woods alternated between well-packed gravel and mud. Prior to this trip, we saw photographs of hikers in knee-deep mud. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter this because there had not been any recent rain.
The weather became unsettled on our last day.
We headed back to town to take the short flight back to the South Island.
While this is not the type of backpack trip we normally choose, it was a nice change of pace. The highlight of the track was the wide variety of exotic bird calls we heard, including kiwi at night. That was something we had not yet heard during our stay in New Zealand.
All photos from this trip are on Flickr.
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