Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
pre-booking ensures that you have a bunk for the night. Note that standard hut tickets and
Backcountry Hut Passes cannot be used on the Rakiura Track.
with another one at Maori Beach. Camping is not permitted elsewhere along the track.
Leave your intentions with a trusted friend; visit the website of
Adventure Smart
(
www.adventuresmart.org.nz
)
for details.
The Tramp
Day 1: Oban to Port William
4-5 HOURS, 13KM
Leave the DOC Visitor Centre and turn right to walk down Main Rd. Turn left into Elgin
Tce past the Ship to Shore store, and up the hill. Follow this main coast road over a series of
hills to
Horseshoe Bay
, then on to
Lee Bay
, the official entrance to Rakiura National Park.
At beautiful Lee Bay, walk through the
Anchorstone/Te Puka
, a giant chain-link sculp-
ture symbolising what the Maori believe was a spiritual connection between Stewart Island/
Rakiura (the anchor) and Bluff/Motu Pohue (the stern post of the South Island, which is the
canoe).
The track enters the bush and crosses a bridge over Little River to skirt the coast. You
then follow the coast around Peters Point to Maori Beach. Within 2km the track descends
onto the southern end of
Maori Beach
, where you immediately come to a creek that can eas-
ily be waded at low tide. If the tide is in, stay on the track to quickly reach a footbridge in-
land. North of the creek is a campsite with a toilet and shelter, in a grassy clearing near the
beach.
A sawmill began operating at Maori Beach in 1913, and at one time a large wharf, a
second sawmill and a network of tramways were constructed to extract rimu. By 1920 there
were enough families living here to warrant opening a school. The onset of the Depression
led to the closure of Rakiura's last mill in 1931, but a rusting steam boiler from that logging
era can still be seen down a short track near the footbridge.
Continue north along the smooth sand of Maori Beach to reach a bridge at the far end,
one hour from Little River. The track then climbs a small hill and continues to the intersec-
tion with the track to North Arm. To reach Port William, turn right and you will gradually
drop to the Port William campsite, nestled just above the shores of
Magnetic Beach
.
