Rakiura Track part 2 - North Arm Hut to Port William turnoff

North Arm Hut was re-opened in mid-July after the hut was extended to make a larger cooking room and to separate the bunkrooms. Both huts on the Rakiura Track sleep 24 and the Great Walks booking system ensures a bunk for the night. The cost is $22 per adult per night, children/teens under 18 are free - pretty cheap for a family experience. Firewood is provided but trampers have to provide their own cooking gas, sleeping gear, food and torch/candles.

I left North Arm Hut at 8.40am in cloudy and dry conditions after overnight rain. The section between North Arm and the Port William turnoff is 100% bush but the composition of the bush keeps changing depending on altitude and aspect. I wandered through fabulous green rimu, then a few minutes later it was crown fern and ponga territory in shades of brown. Plenty of history too with a system of bullock tramways and the steam log haulers - it must have been a tough life for the people working there at the turn of the 20th century.

I arrived at the Port William turnoff at 2.15pm just as the rain started falling. My waterproof camera ran out of battery at the log haulers and my other camera wasn't waterproof so I don't have photos from the turnoff back to Lee Bay but it was covered in my January blog

Lovely ngahere

Lots of bridges through this section

Clear tannin-tinted streams

Easy walking

Second viewpoint - great views over Paterson Inlet

Rimu and ponga country

Bridge over a bullock tramway stretching from Fern Gully to
north of North Arm Hut

Steeper gullies for the last couple of kilometres

A good climb up to the log haulers - looking
back down the steps

McAllister hauler

Johnston hauler

Log hauler display panel

Port William turnoff