Stewart Island

On Friday 22 April I left Dunedin after a long day in the lab and went down south to Invercargil where I would spend the night in a hostel. I got up early the next morning and drove further south to a little town called Bluff where I entered the ferry to Stewart Island. 

After about one hour on the boat we finally arrived at the harbor on Stewart Island. The entire island is pretty much one big national park which makes it pretty unique.

Apart from shark-diving there´s only really one other thing to do on Stewart Island: hiking. The Rakiura Track is about 35 km long and one of the nine Great Walks in New Zealand. 

The track is pretty flat and very easy to walk. The path leads through a lush and absolutely staggering rain forest for most of the time.

Typical fern-trees along the way

Every now and then the path leads out of the forest onto a beautiful beach. 

Ant then back into the woods again.

Stewart Island sees a lot of rain, so the paths are pretty muddy and slippery year round. 

Northarm Hut where I stayed the night

Back at the ferry terminal on day 2 there was a surprise waiting for everyone. As the winds were too strong, the ferry operator had decided to cancel all ferries for the day, meaning we were basically stuck on the island and had to spend another night on Stewart Island. Luckily the next day (Monday) was ANZAC day, so I didn´t have to be back at Uni. 

Stewart Island was definitely a unique experience and one of the most gorgeous walks I´ve done here in New Zealand so far!