Rakiura Track - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - National Park
The Rakiura Track is 32km in length, however most people walk an additional 5km of road between Oban and the Lee Bay end of the track and another 2km from Fern Gully back to Oban, bringing the total distance to 39km. Most people walk it in 3 days. The track can be walked in either direction.

Click on the arrow button
below to explore this walk.

Oban to Lee Bay, Rakiura National Park, New Zealand

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The Rakiura Track begins here - at the Department of Conservation's Rakiura National Park Visitor Centre in Oban.

Rakiura Track, Rakiura National Park, New Zealand

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
We head down to the Halfmoon Bay waterfront and turn left. Then we follow the road along past the wharf and up that small hill where the road turns to the left.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Heading down the hill towards Bathing Beach.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Bathing Beach.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Kiwi birds are commonly seen in this area.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Looking out over Butterfield Beach - with a totally cool Morris 1000 (or "Morrie Thou") in the foreground.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
We carry on up and over the hill.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Public telephone.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Coming down the hill into Horseshoe Bay.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Horseshoe Bay.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The Horseshoe Bay Road - Lee Bay Road intersection. We turn left here and head to the Lee Bay carpark.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The start of Lee Bay Road.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This is the start of the Garden Mound Track. Of all the Oban day walks, it is probably the steepest, hardest, muddiest, longest - and quite possibly the best.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Lee Bay carpark. The start of the Rakiura Track.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This display tells about local history, geology and telecommunications. Looking down the hole in the top of the display on the left, we can see a length of the Stewart Island / Rakiura telephone cable.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The side track on the right leads down to Lee Bay beach.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Lee Bay beach.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
A classic Stewart Island / Rakiura quote.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This is the now-famous Chain link Sculpture which commemorates the forming of Rakiura National Park in 2002. It represents the chain which the mythical Maui used to fasten his anchor (Stewart Island / Rakiura) to his boat (NZ's South Island) when he caught his fish (the North Island). There is another similar sculpture - made of aluminium - in Bluff, at the bottom of the South Island.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Lee Bay picnic area.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
A seat...

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
...with a gorgeous view up the coast.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This is the other end of the track up to Garden Mound, which we saw on the road to Lee Bay.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
It's a steep descent.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Crossing the bridge over Little River.

RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Looking back across the bridge at Little River. Beautiful...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Now we have to choose... Do we take the high tide route? Or, since it is currently low tide, should we take the low tide route? Whenever I'm faced with a choice like this, I like to do both.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
That's the low tide route.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Let's take the high tide route...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This is where the low tide route meets up with the high tide route.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
That's the low tide route. Let's go back down it and check it out...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
And here we are, back down at the beach.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Beautiful...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Right! Time to get back to the main track.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Okay... We're back on the main track.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Another beautiful little Rakiura beach. In the distance is Port William - our destination for tonight.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
If we turn right here, we can cross a shallow stream and walk across the sand to Maori Beach campsite. We'll take the high tide route instead - so we carry on straight ahead.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
We turn left here and check out relics from the old Maori Beach sawmill.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Maori Beach sawmill.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Maori Beach Campsite - 4 tent sites for up to 8 people.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Maori Beach Campsite, looking out into Wooding Bay.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This bush track leads from the shelter through the bush and down to the beach.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
And here we see the low tide track.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Walking back along the bush track to Maori Beach Campsite.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Maori Beach.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Maori Beach swingbridge and a friendly bunch of Auckland trampers.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Maori Beach.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Tidal inlet.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The track to the left heads to North Arm Hut. We're going there tomorrow. For tonight, we head straight ahead to Port William Hut, which is about 45 minutes away.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
There, through the trees, we see the wharf at Port William. Not far now.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Campsite.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Campsite - 4 tent sites for up to 8 campers.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Campsite shelter.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Campsite.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Now we are going to climb up and over that headland.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
A side track leads us down to the wharf.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Looking back towards Port William Campsite.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Looking towards Port William Hut.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Right... Enough wharf action. Let's get to the hut and choose a bunk.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - 24 bunk beds, bookings required.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - front bunkroom.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - kitchen / dining room.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - walkway to back bunkroom.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - back bunkroom.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - back bunkroom, showing the doorway which joins the two bunkrooms.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - kiwi spotting tips.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - front deck.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - firewood shed.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - around the back. Toilets are up the track to the right, past the watertanks.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - track to the toilets.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - toilets.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - front lawn.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - picnic table and view over Magnetic Beach.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Port William Hut - Day Two. Next morning, these keen young hikers were heading out to Oban, fish and chips - and a ferry back to the mainland. They were a friendly and entertaining group.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Right... Now we backtrack for 45 minutes to that intersection we saw yesterday.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
A little bit of uphill...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
...And a little bit of downhill.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Then rather a lot of uphill.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The trees here are so stunningly beautiful - it is actually a real privilege to walk this section of the track twice.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
We climb up and up...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
...until we get to this intersection. Now we can stop retracing our steps and head to North Arm Hut.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
We can expect mud today. Plenty of mud...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Historic Log Haulers.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Historic Log Haulers - and they're amazingly well preserved.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Historic Log Haulers.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The first bridge.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Looking upstream.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Looking downstream.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The second bridge.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Looking downstream.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Wow... After all the mud, it's great to see the wonderful work that DOC are doing on the track here.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This, the "Tent Camp" is where the track maintenance crew stay. They're pretty tough sorts - and friendly too. This is also the halfway point of today's hike.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This is the Halfway Tree. It marks the halfway point of the whole Rakiura Track. Someone had to carry that buoy here. Nutter...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The Halfway Tree.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
A lot of this matting has been laid down to combat the fearsome Rakiura mud. It will soon have gravel laid on top of it. In its current uncovered state, it provides a very well-cushioned downhill hiking experience.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Danger! If the water is flowing over the top of this little bridge, don't even think about crossing. Stay here and wait for the water level to drop - or turn back.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
And if the water was flowing over this bridge, it'd probably be pretty tricky to even get to this bridge, let alone cross it.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
You know all that white matting we were walking on..? Well, it's not that good an idea for us to be walking on it before the gravel goes down. This is what DOC have learned - and for this reason, the new tracks here are fenced off to protect them until they are completely finished.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
There are very few landmarks on today's walk - so it's hard to tell how much further we have to go. It comes as a nice surprise to find it is now only 5 minutes to the hut. We turn right at this point.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
We turn left here and check out the North Arm Campsite - a 1 minute detour.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Campsite - 4 tent sites for up to 8 campers.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Campsite.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National ParkHeading down to North Arm Hut.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
These are the North Arm Hut toilets - quite a long steep climb from the hut in bad weather.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - 24 bunks, bookings required.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - entrance deck.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - kitchen / dining room.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - western deck.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - view of North Arm from western deck.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - warmer bunkroom of the two (because it's closer to the fire).

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - warmer bunkroom of the two.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - cooler bunkroom of the two.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
North Arm Hut - Day Three. The walk up to the toilets.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Now it's a fairly steep climb back up the hill.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Okay... The track on the left is where we came from yesterday. Today we are taking the right fork and making our way to Fern Gully and then back to the relative civilisation of Oban.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Mud. Today we will experience more mud than we expected.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
View of North Arm.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Okay... I wasn't going to keep mentioning the mud - but...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
We're getting a bit over this mud.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Sawdust Bay. Not hard to imagine how it got its name.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The old Sawdust Bay Campsite, which is no longer in use.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The shelter and watertank are gone.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
There's a toilet - but we didn't check to see if it was still being used.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Back to the main track. 3.5 hours to go...

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Sawdust Bay.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
This short side track leads to the historic site of Gallon's Sawmill.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
That's the end of the side track.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Those logs in the stream are a legacy of the sawmill.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The track to the right leads to Kaipipi Bay - an essential 2 minute 250 metre side track.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Kaipipi Bay straight ahead.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Kaipipi Bay.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Heading back up to the main track.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Here we are back at the intersection. From here the track is an old road. It is wide and flat but still pretty darn muddy in places.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
The track climbs fairly gently.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
And then the track begins its descent to Fern Gully.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park
Here, the Rakiura Track intersects with the Ryans Creek Track. Some people turn right here and walk to Oban via the Ryans Creek Track. It adds about an hour and a half to the journey. We're turning left here and heading to Fern Gully carpark, which is about 15 minutes away.

THE RAKIURA TRACK - Rakiura National Park

FERN GULLY - Rakiura National Park
Fern Gully carpark. The end of the Rakiura Track. From here it is a 30 minute 2km walk back to Oban.

FERN GULLY - Rakiura National Park

FERN GULLY - Rakiura National Park
And then we come to this stunning example of island life. A veritable treasure trove of old Land Rover and Toyota Hilux parts - and a sign that says it all so beautifully. This sign should replace the "Oban" sign at the waterfront (just for a laugh).

FERN GULLY - Rakiura National Park

FERN GULLY - Rakiura National Park
Coming down the hill into Oban for fish and chips - and a nice cold beer.