Advertisement
Published: July 29th 2009
Half Moon Bay
This is where the ferry arrives and the settlement of Oban is. I decided to treat myself to a lie in this morning, if feels like months since I didn't have to check out of a hostel or just be up early to plant trees or save the world!
After last nights "activities" I was glad to just chill this morning and catch up with myself.
Loaded with a full bowl of porridge in my tummy, I ventured down to the DOC office/visitor center to see what the island had to offer. I had already picked up two leaflets on tramping routes on the island, one the Rakiura track ( a great walk, 3 days, 2 nights) and the Northwest and Southwestern Circuits which are much longer (9-11 days) and require significant navigation skills.
The DOC office was very useful as always with lots of brochures and useful information for planning my steward island adventure. In the hallway there was a notice board where a notice had been placed up by an older kiwi woman looking for a partner or group to tramp the longer north west circuit. That got me thinking! I was prepared to do the 3 day great walk, as the longest trip i've done is only
Tomtit
One of the few birds I saw about 3 nights but maybe with someone else i would feel more comfortable attempting NZ longest tramp...I would have to think about that! The potential of spending 11 days with a stranger in the bush where i would be more than likely cold wet and hungry was an interesting concept!
I also enquired about "voly" (volunteering) opportunities in the area. There seems to be some local community work going on, so i was given contact details for them. Fingers crossed there might be something I can get my hands dirty with!
I rounded up some information on the local day walks and set out to test the waters as such on Stewart Island. I picked a 3-4hour walk slightly outside halfmoon bay (where the town of Oban is located - the main settlement on the island). Horseshoe point was the name of the walk I would attempt and at this stage the sun was out and there was very little wind. I knew the weather could change very quickly on the island so i went prepared for the worst weather!
The walk started on the road and eventually lead on to a narrow track. It was a
Beware of the Kiwi
You have to love the road signs! pleasant coastal walk with some slight gradient and you were always close to the sea. I dropped down into a few small sandy coves, the largest being Dean Mans Bay, which was windy but I had it all to myself to eat lunch. The islands off halfmoon bay, in the Foveux straight (possibly Muttonbird island) were visible towards the later parts of the walk. The bush and vegetation was surprisingly varied for such a short walk. It started quite typically with cabbage trees, manuka etc but these were soon replaced by large trees with very wide trunks. I read the leaflet and learned that these were macricarpa trees, which remained from a farmstead site. At one point they looped and bent over the path, almost forming a roof to the path, which was welcome as the weather was beginning to change! The wind really picked up when I reached horseshoe point and then the rain closed in on the way back. I had 3km of a long walk on the road to get back to town, maybe I'll hitch a lift with the locals next time!
One thing i really noticed today was the lack of bird song in
Bragg Bay
The sand isn't as golden as Abel Tasmin, but pretty all the same! the forest. I know i'd been spoiled on Maud Island as it's a protected area, but there really was little to no tweets on the track i walked. It was dissappointing. Maybe tomorrow I'll visit Ulva island where the bird song is meant to be fantastic!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0543s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
