Slogging through the Bogs

Rakiura Track, Lee Bay to Oban, Stewart Island.

Party: Me, Mark, Spike, Marion

8-10 October 2019

After an incredibly calm (for Foveaux Strait) crossing to Oban, Mark, Spike and I meandered up the road to the Oban DoC office to await our booked water taxi, while Marion and Hadyn jumped in a taxi to the start of the track. Our couple of hours at the DoC office passed smoothly, with the lovely ladies providing us a DVD to watch (a documentary on the Auckland Islands).

Our water taxi transfer was bought forward suddenly when the company rang to say they had a pickup to do further around, so could take us earlier if it suited (hell yes it did!) and all of a sudden we were at Port William Hut, having avoided the easy, pretty day of the track to save the 8km on little legs.

We settled in, picked our beds and had some afternoon tea. Port William hut was much more sheltered from the wind than Oban was, so it was super pleasant. We decided to wander down the track to find Hadyn and Marion, who were about 15 minutes away by the time we found them.

Port William hut wound up being busy but not packed, with one of the summer DoC rangers being in residence with his family on a familiarisation trip (and off to do some hunting). Late in the afternoon, a small white-tailed deer appeared in the clearing outside the hut, which was exciting. She was completely unconcerned by people (we were all fairly quiet so as not to disturb her) and she wandered in and out of the clearing all evening.

Wandering the beach late in the afternoon, we discovered that it glitters. It was impossible to get a good photo, but it was so gorgeous and entrancing!

After a good dinner (leftover Sweet & sour pork on rice, followed by s’mores for the boys), and some great conversation with the other kiwi family in residence, it was time for a reasonably early night.

Wednesday morning dawned cloudy and cool, with a threat of rain. We said farewell to Hadyn, who had decided he wasn’t up to the rest of the walk after all and was returning to Oban via water taxi, and headed off into the bush.

The walk from Port William to North Arm hut is really nothing to write home about. Some amazingly well constructed staircases, an old log hauler from the forestry days, and a small group of trampers met near the high point of the day. Loads and loads of mud. Eventually we got to a trio of bridges that were all marked “do not cross if water above boards of bridge” – there were only two streams marked on the map, so we presumed these were those.

This day just dragged. Other than the bridges there were no key markers as to where we were. There were no views to try and triangulate a position. You just had to keep moving and hope you were nearly there. I struggled massively. If you find a tree with a boating buoy hanging in it that says “Half way”, note that this is for the whole loop – there was a trail run on the circuit the weekend before we went, and this was up then, but we don’t know if it stays year-round – we only figured this out the next day, after consternation that “half way” for the day had seemed to take 4.5 hours of a forecast 5-5.5.

North Arm hut has lovely views into Patterson Inlet, but be warned that the toilet is back up the hill a bit, so you’ll want proper shoes and your raincoat if its wet. We didn’t actually go and explore the lovely views while we were there, because the weather was so bad. But it was a gorgeously peaceful spot and the Invercargill-based teenagers we shared the hut with were lovely, so I have really fond memories of being here too.

 

Our evening was peaceful and we all went to bed early, it had been a long day and we had an even longer day coming, with colder weather forecast.

Heading back up the 47 steps to the track junction was a great way to warm up into the tramp for our final day. From here, the track genuinely undulates along the coast of Patterson Inlet, with a few moderate uphills and descents. We made reasonable time, considering the track condition (loads more bogs again today), stopped briefly for a toilet break at Sawdust Bay, and missioned on to the Kaipipi Bay track junction, getting ever colder as we got closer to Oban.

We stopped here briefly to grab out lunches and extra warm layers. Mark and Marion whipped down the track to the bottom to have a look at Kaipipi Bay, which is described as “sheltered” to find the wind was in exactly the right quarter to render that description pointless. Spike and I got moving ahead of them to avoid getting too cold.

From here, the track climbs and has been re-located in a couple of places to make it smoother / less steep / drier. The climb is not short, but is also not sharp – its smooth and pretty easy. It becomes really clear when you’ve reached the top and it starts dropping, and doesn’t stop dropping until you get to the Ryans Creek track junction and the carpark.

By the time we got to the 4wd track from the carpark to the road (marked as tramping track on all the maps), we were all pretty shattered. The promise of real beds, showers and shelter from the wind was all that was keeping us moving at this stage. 

Stopping in at the DoC office to get a talking Tuatara for Spike (because I promised the day before that when he’d walked all the way around he could have one, and I think it was all that kept him moving), we regaled the lovely ladies there with the story of our adventure. From there we were blown in the door of the South Sea Hotel, where we desperately wanted a bowl of fries, but they didn’t have any available, so we settled for dry clothes and hot chocolates before checking in to our ferry at the wharf in between rain spells.

The ferry home was super rough and several people were very ill, which was unpleasant for the rest of us (not as unpleasant as for them, obviously), and we were all glad to get back to Invercargill to unpack, dry off some gear, shower, dinner and early to bed.