On 9 December, 16 adventurous Duke of Edinburgh students flew into Mason’s Bay, Stewart Island where they landed on the beach. The purpose: to put into practice the skills we have learned over the years.
We met up at the airport, only to find that our flights were slightly delayed due the Southland weather. The ride in the small 8-seater was a little bumpy, but the views were exquisite. We trekked 8 kms down the beach before heading off track to Mason Bay Hut. That evening, we hunted for kiwi, played highly competitive card games and befriended a probably rather overwhelmed fellow tramper.
Masons Bay was the site of a farm from 1874-1985. Nowadays, some of the buildings are still standing, including the homestead, which is used to accommodate DOC workers. We walked past these buildings on the second day as we tramped to Freshwater Hut. The track was created in the 1930s for access to Freshwater Landing, and is approximately 16km long. It was an enjoyable day filled with camaraderie and beautiful sights. Mason’s Bay is home to an impressive and extensive patch of sand dunes, which played host to much fun that day. We were also pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a juvenile spotted kiwi, whom we watched with interest and dubbed ‘Philip’. All in all, we were glad to remove our waterlogged boots at Freshwater Hut. This was a picturesque hut that overlooked a river. Here, we met a DOC ranger who devotes his time to protecting the endangered Southern New Zealand dotterel/pukunui, with only 101 remaining. It was fascinating to learn about the dotterel and its predators.
The following day, we water taxied out to Golden Bay and continued with our tramping by completing local walks. We spent that night in Oban at the backpackers. We were all thrilled to have a shower, especially some of us who had to be pulled out of the waist-deep mud. The next day was spent doing another walk before catching the ferry home.
We were super thankful to the adults – Mr Kleinhans, Mr Graham, Miss Thomas and Ms Smith, who supervised our adventures. We had some great weather for tramping and it was fabulous to explore less well-known spots on Stewart Island.
By Natalie Snoek
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