Stewart Island Coastal Highlights

Introduction

Joining your Ruggedy Range guide in the morning, you will begin your journey, combining sea, beach, land and wildlife in Rakiura National Park.

The water taxi Aihe will be your first mode of transport, heading from Paterson Inlet to Port William, a route that allows views of New Zealand’s magnificent seabirds, shorebirds and penguins.

Disembarking at Port William, you will depart for a walk along the Rakiura Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks and a journey that takes visitors through the area’s lush rainforests.

An area thriving with towering podocarp trees, tree ferns and delicate and filmy ferns, you will break through the brush onto Maori Beach. Here, a swing bridge crosses over a small, tannin-rich estuary before your group stops for a brief but satisfying lunch.

At Lee Bay, the gateway to Rakiura National Park, you will stop again for a half-hour afternoon tea break, time permitting, while enjoying superb views of Mt. Anglem, Stewart Island’s highest mountain.

Good fitness required. Terrain is coastal track, relatively easy, undulating with steps, mainly boardwalk, some mud and beach.

Picnic lunch, transfers and water taxi are included. Please note: Ruggedy Range is unable to pick up/drop off at Port of Call, Sails Ashore or Greenvale. Clients staying at these properties will need to transfer to/from Golden Bay Wharf to meet the tour.

Duration: 8 hours
Price: from £173 per person
Departures: daily, (except mid-June to mid-July)