We finally made it to Stewart Island in early 2021, starting our South Island trip with a tramp around the island’s North-West Circuit. Unimaginatively named it may be, but this 8-day walk is easily one of best multi-day hikes that we’ve ever done. We took the ferry across to Oban, the island’s little settlement and organised a drop off at the trailhead, packs laden with food for 8-9 days.

The first section forms part of the Rakiura Great Walk. It’s easy going on a well formed trail all the way to Port William Hut, where we stop for lunch. Once we turn off the Great Walk the north-west track quickly deteriorates into a muddy bog, confirming that everything we’d heard about the infamous Stewart Island mud wallowing is in fact true. There is also some lovely beach walking in the sunshine and we reach Bungaroo Hut in good time. The hut has been taken over by a group of fishermen, but they are camping outside, and kindly offer us some of their catch.

We head out early the next morning, enjoying a mix of bush and beach. There are some steep climbs, hauling ourselves up ladders of tree roots but the bush is beautiful, full of majestic old trees – it’s like an enchanted forest with everything draped in vines, mosses, ferns and lichen.

The next few days roll by in kaleidoscope of beaches, dunes, rocky headlands, creeks, dense forest and mud. Icy creeks offer the opportunity for a refreshing plunge to wash off the mud on arrival to each night’s accommodation. The range of DOC huts are a daily highlight – most nights we have them to ourselves and apart from the occasional small group of spearfishers or hunters, we encounter very few other humans.

After a few Kiwi glimpses, it was on our fifth day of tramping that we had the sensational experience of having a kiwi dart across the track – and then pause, while we froze on the spot. It seemed completely oblivious to us and started fossicking happily around us, giving Liz’s hiking pole a bit of sniff, before eventually wandering off. We floated along for the rest of the day on a high, unbothered by the rain, cold, steep ascents, boulder hopping and slippery mud descents, it was all the perfect Kiwi experience.

Heavy overnight rain and big winds made our sixth day slow going along waterlogged tracks and across creeks that had turned from trickles into torrents. Emerging on the beach we were sandblasted by howling winds. Steep slippery trails resulted in Ed snapping a hiking pole and winding up feeling pretty battered after a few tumbles. Happy to reach Big Hellfire Hut, coax the fire into life and start to thaw & dry out.

The next morning we had a sleep in to coincide with a low tide later in the day along Masons Beach. Then it was straight into a series of treacherous climbs and descents, slithering our way over the last of the rugged ranges before dropping out on to Masons Beach. Then we were rewarded with an easy 4km beach walk, before turning inland to the large and popular Mason Bay Hut.

Plenty of people take a light aircraft flight into Masons Bay and hike the short section across to Freshwater Hut, so we had lots of company for our final night. Luckily the rain had eased so, although swampy underfoot we had no problems walking the final, mostly flat section through tea tree scrub. Arrived at the hut and jetboat landing early, so Liz and I wandered off to ascend Rocky Mountain. Then it was a quick zip out the river and around the coast to Oban.

All too soon we are back at the campground in Oban, celebrating with possibly the best fish & chips in the southern hemisphere and a couple of beers. Done!