I checked into a hotel recommended by Lonely Planet and spent a day or two getting rested from the flight, checking out the town and sorting through all the Great Walks reservations, bus passes, hut passes and phone cards.The ferry terminal for Stewart Island is in Bluff and what I didn't realize at first was that in New Zealand, especially southern New Zealand, the buses come to you. There I was all ready to take my pack halfway across town to the bus station wondering why everyone was looking at me funny when all I needed to do was stay put. You tell the bus where you're staying when you make your reservation and they do the rest.
The scenery on the Rakiura Track doesn't
amount to much but New Zealanders love Stewart Island because it's so unspoiled. I loved it because it was a gentle warm-up hike, had unbelievable tropical plantlife and because it was a nice low stress introduction to dealing with the Dept of Conservation (DOC). I returned to Invercargill before heading off to Tuatapere to do the Hump Track.The Hump Track was a much more strenuous trip than the Rakiura especially getting up to the ridge on the first day. It starts with a walk along the beach that alternates between dirt tracks and beach walking.Then it heads into the woods, remains level
for a while and then climbs steeply to the ridge. It was foggy the afternoon I got to the ridge so I didn't appreciate the scenery until the next day but the second day was a gem. A magnificent view down to Te Waewae Bay and the ocean and a wonderful ridge walk before heading back down off the ridge and back to the trailhead.
