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.

Freshwater Hut and Rocky Mountain

We had Freshwater Hut to ourselves so were well rested when we woke in the morning. The weather was marginally better and we gathered more firewood before setting off on a day trip to climb Rocky Mountain. It's about a 3 hour return hike but we weren't in any hurry, and with heavy overnight rain we knew that the mud puddles would only be deeper.

The turn-off to Rocky Mountain summit - the right hand track leads back
to Halfmoon Bay via Thomson Ridge

The bush walk, before the going gets steep, is really pretty - lots of crown fern and beautiful trees; not a lot of birdsong because we were talking too much! Native birds appear when you are still and quiet, but there weren't many places to sit that weren't under water.

Can you see the baby kakapo chick in this pic?

The track wound upward and we got a glimpse or two of the surrounding area when the low cloud parted. Frequent showers and hail accompanied us but the sun shone briefly which was worth a photo!

Yay! Sunshine!

Quite easy climbing but watch out for slippery branches and roots

It's hot work climbing despite the hail lying on the ground so I'd taken off a layer earlier in the climb. We reached the summit in time for lunch but in the few minutes that we took to put some warmer clothing on and take a GPS waypoint of the cairn marking the track, we realised that we needed to head back into shelter. After a couple of quick photos and a pledge to return on a sunny day, we headed back down the track to eat our lunch.

Jen and Owen on Rocky Mountain summit (549m) - Mason Bay is at top left

Looking north over Rocky Mountain summit

We thought the going down would be harder than what it was - the mud was soft and deep enough to stop us from slipping so we made good progress back. We got some good views in some places - would be stunning on a clear day.

Looking back toward Mason Bay

Looking down on Freshwater Flats

Slow and steady down the steep bits

My camera battery was getting down a bit so I didn't take many photos of the weird and wonderful plant life. I found this ?lichen up near the summit, along with the thick 'goo' that covered most of the branches up there - it looked like a miniature air vent sculpture!

Wood smoke greeted us as we neared the hut and it was great to meet up with the three North West Circuit trampers that we shared Mason Bay Hut with. They spent two nights at Mason Bay and had a wet tramp to Freshwater with the track knee-deep in water in some spots. We got back just in time to catch Martin (from Czech Republic) and Javiera (from Chile) preparing for a swim across Freshwater River; I reckon that maybe 10 days of tramping makes you delusional! Ondrej (also from Czech Republic) decided it was more sensible to stay dry.



Javi making it safely across the river

Freshwater River - upstream of the swingbridge

We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and hearing the stories that go with travelling around the world. It's neat that so many overseas visitors enjoy our tramping tracks and New Zealand lifestyle; what great stories they'll have to tell their families when they return home.

We were joined early evening by 3 more overseas trampers who were also doing the North West Circuit. They had walked from Big Hellfire Hut, stopping only briefly at Mason Bay before heading over to Freshwater Hut in the same day - an impressive distance of 30.5km. We were already in bed when a male kiwi called just before 10pm, and were woken in the early hours of the morning with a kiwi male/female duet just outside the hut - magic!!

Another overcast day dawned and we waved goodbye to the trampers who intended walking all the way out to Halfmoon Bay. The track over Thomson Ridge is some of the trickiest tramping on the island, steep, slippery and climbing up/down tree roots. It's only 11km to North Arm Hut but average time is 6-7hrs, with another 4-5hrs out to Halfmoon Bay.

The superfast trampers from New Mexico and France

Javi, Ondrej and Martin heading off to tackle Thomson Ridge

We felt a tad smug taking the easy way (water taxi) back to the village but we helped out by carrying out the trampers' rubbish. After cleaning the hut we explored part of the Southern Circuit from Freshwater Landing to Freds Camp. It didn't take long as no-one was keen to wade across the chest-deep stream 10 minutes from the hut! Instead we headed back towards Mason Bay for almost an hour before calling it a day and sloshing our way back to the hut for soup and sandwiches before packing for our 1pm water taxi.

If you come to Stewart Island then try to include a trip to Mason Bay if possible. The Coast to Coast is a unique experience and although the kiwi didn't tug at our shoe laces this time, we live in hope that next time they will!