Mason Bay to Oban - April 2017

Tuesday morning was another gorgeous day; curls of fog lay in the valleys and after a hearty breakfast we packed and set out to walk to Freshwater Hut. A short walk from Mason Bay Hut is the Island Hill Homestead which was built in 1884 by the first run-holder, William Walker. The last leaseholder, the Te Aika Family, left in 1987 after 20 years of farming. A bit further on are the sheep yards and the historic woolshed - it still smells of wool grease and the last shearing tallies are still chalked up on the board.

Fog hanging around Big Sand Hill at Mason Bay

DOC's 20-bunk Mason Bay Trampers Hut

The Island Hill Woolshed

The track was in great condition; it's been muddy or very muddy on the other occasions I've walked it, so it was great to be walking on a surface the consistency of wet cake mix! Kev and I stopped often to take photos, to talk to the matata (fern birds) and admire the landscape.

Kev posing on the boardwalk over the Chocolate Swamp

After the swamp, the track runs alongside Scott Burn. Just after midday we heard a scuffle in the undergrowth; we froze on the spot and were rewarded with seeing two kiwi - one in hot pursuit of the other. They ran past us and veered back in to the undergrowth. We decided it was a good time to stop for lunch and we chatted about our morning's highlight.

Can you spot the two kiwi?

Just as we were packing up, I glanced between two trunks and could make out the shape of a kiwi; my eyesight's not the sharpest and I've made many a mistaken ID! I took a photo and zoomed up...

What the camera saw

Zoomed in to a sleeping kiwi - yay!

I reckon this kiwi was sleeping when the other kiwi wandered in to its territory. Once it had seen the visitor off, he/she circled back and went back to sleep again.

After we left Scott Burn we walked past a lily pond; from what I gather there used to be a summer house here and the lilies were planted by the leaseholder family. Opposite the pond is an abandoned motor bike, now in serious disrepair. Keeping an eye on both are toutouwai (Stewart Island robins).

Freshwater lily pond

Freshwater toutouwai

Just before Freshwater Hut is a gorgeous sphagnum bog; the colours are amazing and the thick gloop looks like primordial soup from the beginning of time. If you are interested in the plants between here and Mason Bay then check out this Theobrominated' blog. Another NZ Geographic article on the west coast of Stewart Island is a cracking read too.

Freshwater Landing was a welcome sight and we soon had the billy boiled and sat down to an afternoon tea of muesli bars and chocolate. We had thought of climbing up Rocky Mountain, a 3hr return trip from Freshwater Hut, but we opted instead for chatting to the other trampers in the hut that were on their final night of the North West Circuit tramp.

Heavy rain overnight gave us a good excuse to give the hut a good clean so we were right on hand to see a pair of kiwi just behind the hut around 9am. Our tramping friend, Leslie, was hiking back to Oban via Thomson Ridge and North Arm Hut but Kev and I took the easier option and caught the water-taxi back in choppy conditions, then a half hour walk back home. A great outing!

Kev and Leslie at Freshwater Hut

Rakiura Charters water-taxi at Freshwater Landing

Mason Bay - April 2017 (part 1)

My long break from blogging means I have lots of stories from the past. Do I put them up or write them off? Hmm, perhaps a compromise and I hope you don't mind a bit of time travel!

Another highlight from this year also involved Mason Bay so let's go back a couple of months and spend a bit longer on the West Coast of Rakiura. In April my brother, Kev, visited Stewart Island for the first time. He was in the 'area' after tramping the Routeburn and Greenstone/Caples Tracks and thought he'd pop down to see where I lived. It was lovely to share this special island with him, and with 10 full days up our sleeves it was a no-brainer to do the Coast to Coast. Tides and day-length dictate the plane drop-off (lands on Mason Bay at low tide) and the water-taxi pickup (high tide); in-between are two DOC back-country huts (Mason Bay and Freshwater) and 15km of almost flat and generally muddy, tramping track.

It's always a gamble with weather but we struck it perfectly with fine and calm conditions over at Mason Bay. The plane landed at Duck Creek (called after putangitangi, the Paradise duck) late afternoon, giving us enough time to wander up to the DOC hut (about a 20 min walk), unpack our gear and head out to the sand dunes to watch the sun set into the sea. Later on that evening we slow-walked in the moonlight up to the Homestead and saw two kiwi - magic!!

Watching the sun go down from the Mason Bay sand dunes

Worrying to see more cat prints in the dunes than kiwi prints

Sand cosprosma berries - aren't they pretty

We had two nights at Mason Bay Hut and on our second day we walked down to the Gutter at the southern end of the beach. It's about an 8km beach walk; just perfect with the sound of the breakers and watching the dotterels with their distinctive walk. The following description is from Olga Sansom's 1970 book 'The Stewart Islanders'...
"These birds don't seem too concerned about intruders on their beach. They hurry along at a quick walk just ahead of you, stop to allow you to catch up, then put on the pace again"

The Ernest Islands in the distance - photo taken from Duck Creek

The Ernest Islands - getting closer

Down at The Gutter

Looking north along the sweep of Mason Bay

On the way down the beach we crossed several streams - Martins Creek, Double Creek, Wreck Creek, Cavalier Creek, and Home Creek (also known as Leask Creek). Finally we reached the Gutter and a cluster of high outcrops called the Ernest Islands. We climbed up the hill behind the lagoon to have lunch with a stunning view.

Kev overlooking the lagoon and Ernest Islands

I could have spent all afternoon exploring down here; it's very different to the east coast, is steeped in history and deserves its own post - watch this space!

Trying out 'microscope mode' on my Olympus TG4 camera

A fly with damaged wings

Tētēaweka - Olearia angustifolia

Celmisia rigida - thick leathery leaves on top

Underside of the leaf is soft and furry to absorb moisture

A thin bony disc identified on NatureWatch as part of a vertebra of a

long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas

Coast to Coast - from Oban to Mason Bay Hut via Invercargill

I'm back!! Thank you for your patience and my apologies for taking time out; I'm now on holiday and looking forward to sharing my Rakiura life with you again.

The contract for two of my summer jobs ended 31 May after a very busy season; it was great to meet visitors from all over the world and to share my backyard with them. I never tire of talking about this patch of Paradise and it's a real thrill when others have the same feelings as me about it. I now have two months off before a new contract kicks in so have time to get up to mischief and new stories to tell next season.

Challenge #1: Walk from the west coast to the east coast
Stewart Island Flight's Coast to Coast involves a flight and beach landing at Mason Bay, a 4hr hike across to Freshwater River and a 45 minute water-taxi ride out to Oban. There are DOC backcountry huts both Mason Bay and Freshwater River; great for staying a night or two with kiwi-spotting a regular occurrence. I've been over to Mason Bay three times but have always got a water taxi out, thus avoiding Thomson Ridge - a steep and challenging 6-7hr tramp around to North Arm Hut, with a further 4-5hr walking back out to Oban. I've heard a lot of horror stories about Thomson Ridge but felt I had to do it myself so I knew what it was like.

Thanks to Google for the maps - Codfish Island/Whenua Hou

is the large bump in the top left hand corner of Stewart Island

No work, a settled patch of weather and a spur of the moment decision saw me waiting down at Stewart Island Flights after a hurried pack for my big adventure. My first surprise was an unplanned flight to Invercargill - the low cloud and drizzle had settled in and could have prevented the plane coming back to pick me up. After picking up three more passengers we headed back across Foveaux Strait and around the north/west coasts down to Mason Bay.

Rather murky conditions but nice and calm

I think this is West Ruggedy Beach

Flying past Red Head Peak and the Ruggedy Mountains range

Our Piper Cherokee Six preparing for take off from Mason Bay

I love exploring at Mason Bay so meandered up to the hut via the dunes rather than the track; still lots of feral cat tracks, hopefully the harsher weather will reduce numbers right down over the winter. I followed kiwi and deer prints and hunkered down in the lee of a ring of dunes to have my lunch.

My lunch spot - a ring of dunes around a flattened area

about the size of a tennis court

Kiwi probe holes all over the place

Lots of amazing plants in the dunes, too - I could easily spend a week there!!

Gunnera hamiltonii

Deer prints - probably whitetail although I think there are red deer

over here too

Earina autumnalis (Easter orchid) ripening seed head

Late-flowering Earina autumnalis native orchid

Another shower as the sun sets

Native pingao, Desmoschoenus spiralis, coming back after a

concerted effort to eradicate exotic marram grass

Raoulia sp aff hookeri - a native mat daisy growing in the sand

Back to the hut for dinner - it gets dark early now so I needed my head torch inside. I hope I have enough battery power, especially seeing how we're leaving early the next morning to walk over to Freshwater Landing - my new friends that I flew in with have to meet the water-taxi at 10.15am for their ride back to Oban. I sat outside for a while watching the stars get covered briefly by clouds and listening to kiwi call, then curled up in my sleeping bag and waited for the 5am alarm.