Stewart Island - Day 8: Saturday the 30th of April

We woke up early again as today on this, the last day of the Rakiura Stewart Island Great Walk because once back at our house we need to pack up everything so we can get to the ferry by 7.30am tomorrow morning, so everything has to be sorted out today once we get back.

View from near North Arm hut in the morning

Today was an easy flat walk of 11 kilometers along the coast back to Oban, and I feel quite good physically after thee day’s tramping which is great news considering my limited fitness.

Rusting old steam engine.

Again there were bits of history along the walk from the tree logging 100 years ago and most importantly again were lots of native birds everywhere – I am really enjoying this tramp for all the birds and the great noisy birdsong. And there were also some lovely views along the coastline as well.

We had lunch on a bridge across a river, which is exactly what we did on our last tramp and it’s super nice to take my boots & socks off and relax in the sun while eating lunch.

Lunch

I found a swing!

There was also a great swing that someone has built, and luckily there was someone else coming off the swing when we passed, - otherwise it could be hard to spot. For some reason no one else wanted to have a go, but I must say I quite enjoyed a relaxing swing through the bush, and I am clearly the biggest kid on the tramp.

The last couple of kilometers were along an old road made of rock, as Robin said it’s like walking on an old Roman road and he was totally right. This road was large and easy but what was surprising were the tyre tracks in the mud. Stein guessed these tracks were from the e-bikes you can hire from Oban. And he was proved correct when an e-bike cyclist went past as saying “it said it was a cycle track on the map…. ” as he bounced around from the stones, and slipping in the mud. With all the mud and rock’s it would be a challenging e-bike ride.

We finally found the road, and were only several kilometers from Oban the centre of Stewart Island’s township. We could have phoned the holiday home managers to give us a lift, but I was keen to keep going back to Akomoana. So while all the others relaxed with what turned out to be in the sun and surrounded by sandflies, I kept going but without my pack. It’s a lot easier to walk without my pack, it felt like I was flying and 30 minutes later I was walking back through the centre of Oban which I have gotten to know quite well this week, and then onwards to Akomoana for another 15 minutes.

I quickly took of my boots and let the fresh air on my feet, jumped in our Akomoana car and then drove back to pick up the others. We were all back at Akomoana before 3pm for a short relax, before getting into showers, clean clothes and packing up everything for our trip back to Auckland tomorrow. We have one massive Army bag which is now full of dirty washing.

For dinner we are heading back to the Kai Kart for more locally caught fish – much better than the expensive meals from the hotel, and since we have our own fantastic place why not eat in? The blue cod fish burger was so good!!!

Everyone else was in bed early, so I spent the night working on my blogs while they are fresh in my mind.

Final meal on Rakiura / Stewart Island.