Great Walk Series: Rakiura Track | Steward Island

Rakiura Track, one of the seven great walks on the South Island, is in a peculiar location. It is on an island an hour’s ferry ride from New Zealand’s southernmost town, Bluff. 

This 32 km looped walk takes three days to complete. The best part of it? It does not feature any alpine terrains or steep elevation, making it a walk in the park with no avalanche risk. You can do it anytime, independent of the season! Given the price you have to pay to travel to the island, you will not find many trampers.

Pssss…before the Great Rakiura Track, we completed the easiest walk at the Abel Tasman National Park. And what’s next after Rakiura? My favourite track in Fiordland – The Kepler Track.

Getting There

First, find yourself settled in Bluff, the southernmost town of South Island and the closest town to the island.

Next, book your ferry over in advance with Stewart Island Experience. It is the only ferry company available at the time of writing.

Ticket prices for adults: 

• One-way: NZ$89
• Return: NZ$159

If you are, like us, looking at completing the first day of the track on the same day of your arrival, choose the earliest ferry at 9.45 am. The company has other departure times depending on the season. 

Arrive at least 30 minutes beforehand to get your reserved tickets from the counter. The journey to Stewart Island – Oban – takes an hour. Be warned! It could be a bumpy ride~

We took the last ferry out of Stewart Island – 3 pm – on the last day of our trek.

Ferry rides are bumpy depending on the wind and swell conditions. Our journey to Oban was on huge choppy waves that lashed out at the windows. All I could do then was lie flat on the bench and try to be comfortable for this roller-coaster kind of ride. The journey back home was comparatively smoother.

From Oban to Rakiura

Oban is the only town on the island and where you’d find yourself arriving from Bluff. A small Four Square supermarket around the corner is there for your last-minute purchases before the walk.

It takes about an hour to walk from Oban to Lee Bay – the start of Rakiura Track. I cannot recommend enough the pre-downloaded map on the mobile app Maps.me. Download them for your travels anywhere, not just in NZ! But do not blindly follow their estimated timing, which is misleading when it comes to mountain walks.

Accommodation

Huts: $24 (season), $22 (off-season)

Campsites: $6

The Track

Day 1 (13.9 km)

Oban to Lee Bay

> One hour

> Tarmac road by the neighbourhood

> Some uphill stretch

Lee Bay to Port William hut

> Three hours

> Vegetation cover

> Portions by the beach

> Suspension bridges

> Lots of stairs to climb

Day 2 (14.5 km)

Port William Hut to North Arm Hut

> Six hours

> Reroute (descend downhill) for about 30 minutes to the intersection

> Muddy trail

> Remnants of milling activity littered the track

> Highest elevation of the track: 190 m

Day 3 (14.2 km)

North Arm Hut to Fern Gully Carpark

> Four hours

> Easy walk in the forest, might be muddy, depending on the weather

Fern Gully Carpark to Oban

> A short 2 km walk back to Oban

> Chance visit at Rakiura National Park Visitor Centre

Other Noteworthy Items

• Kiwi Birds. I did not see any, unfortunately. But a couple of friends who have visited Steward Island had seen them not just during the day but also at night. Make sure your headlamps have the red light function.
• Strong wind. We tramped Rakiura Track during winter when the weather was cold. The wind lashing through Oban was very chilly. Wear sufficient layers.
• Two week-long tracks. Rakiura Track is short. There are other longer tracks on the island for those looking forward to epic multi-day tramps: the 125 km North-West Circuit and 71.5 km Southern Circuit.
• DOC webpage for the latest information regarding the track