Rakiura Track: ferry or flight, huts and kiwi on Stewart Island

The Rakiura Track is a 32 km loop on Stewart Island/Rakiura, south of the South Island, usually walked in three days with nights at Port William Hut and North Arm Hut (DOC). The plan comes down to three things. Cross Foveaux Strait to Oban, the island's only town, by the one-hour ferry from Bluff or the 20-minute flight from Invercargill. Book every night on the track with the Department of Conservation (DOC) in advance, because both huts and all three campsites need a booking all year. Then expect to hear kiwi more often than see them: the local tokoeka call at night around the huts, and they are unusual among kiwi in also being active by day.

DOC grades it an intermediate track. It follows beaches and the shore of Paterson Inlet/Whaka a Te Wera, and is open all year. The difficulty is the weather and, after rain, the mud.

Getting to Oban: ferry or plane#

The ferry. From 1 October 2026 RealNZ lists sailings from Bluff at 9:15am and 5:30pm and from Oban at 7:30am and 4:00pm. From 1 December 2026 a midday pair is added, leaving Bluff at 2:00pm and Oban at 12:00pm. RealNZ calls the timetable indicative. Its page advertises fares "from NZD $139" without saying for whom or in which direction, and a 28% saving on the return journey "from $100.08"; since $100.08 is exactly 72% of $139, the second figure looks like the discounted return leg. Its booking system counts adults from 16, and infants under 5 travel free but must be booked. Confirm the actual fare when you book. Day and overnight parking is next to the Bluff terminal at extra cost and cannot be booked in advance, and RealNZ runs connecting coaches from Invercargill for an extra charge. If a sailing is cancelled for weather, you are rebooked or refunded (RealNZ).

The plane. Stewart Island Flights checks in at the main terminal at Invercargill Airport. A courtesy van meets the plane on the island and takes you and your bags to the company's depot on the Halfmoon Bay waterfront in Oban. The 15 kg limit matters for a tramping pack. Excess baggage is not charged but travels only if there is room and may follow on a later flight, and the company stores bags you do not need free of charge. It cannot carry gas canisters or fuel on scheduled flights, so buy them in Oban (FAQ; baggage policy). The website does not publish fares, and its timetable page gives no times in text, only that there are summer (1 October - 30 April) and winter schedules and extra flights when demand requires (timetable).

The visitor levy. Southland District Council charges a levy on visitors to the island, collected by the approved transport operators as part of the fare, half on the way in and half on the way out. The council's bylaw and its 2022 policy both set the amount at NZ$15 from 1 October 2025, up from NZ$10. People under 18 and those staying 21 days or more are exempt (council; bylaw; levy policy). RealNZ's booking notes still mention NZ$5 per adult crossing, the earlier amount; either way it is already in the fare.

With a one-hour crossing, the 9:15am sailing reaches Oban mid-morning, which leaves time to walk to Port William the same day. DOC's latest hut check-in is 8:30pm (DOC terms), so the 2:00pm sailing from December is workable only with a shuttle to Lee Bay, and the 5:30pm sailing means a night in Oban. The guided kiwi trips run in the evening, so they also need a night in town.

Booking the huts and campsites#

There are two huts, Port William and North Arm, with 24 bunks each. The three campsites, Maori Beach, Port William and North Arm, have four tent sites each (Port William Hut; North Arm Hut; Maori Beach Campsite). With only 12 tent sites on the whole track, a camping trip needs booking as early as a hut trip. Bookings for 2026/27 are open on DOC's site.

DOC's fees, in New Zealand dollars per person per night (DOC fees):

Adults are 18 and over. New Zealand children aged 0 to 4 are free, but DOC's international child rate starts at age 0, so an overseas family pays for a baby too. The New Zealand rate needs proof of citizenship or residence on request; if you cannot show it, you pay the difference plus a NZ$50 administration fee per person (DOC terms). Outside summer, the international surcharge disappears and a campsite costs NZ$6.

The rules that catch people out:

• No walk-ins. Without a valid booking you may be charged a penalty or turned away if the site is full (DOC). Under DOC's terms the penalty is the normal fee plus a full adult fee. Backcountry Hut Passes and tickets are not valid at either hut.
• Two nights at most at each hut or campsite.
• Cancellation costs rise as the date approaches. Under the Great Walks terms, cancelling is free on the day of booking and the day after; then it costs 10% of the booking from 15 or more days out, 50% from 14 to 4 days, 75% from 3 days to the day before, and 100% from the day before. DOC does not refund automatically when weather closes a facility; you have to ask within 7 days (DOC terms).
• Children 14 and under must be with an adult.

Carry your DOC confirmation, or call at the Rakiura National Park Visitor Centre, 15 Main Road, Oban, before you set off.

The loop, section by section#

The track can be walked either way. DOC's 32 km covers the track itself, from Lee Bay to the Fern Gully car park. Starting and finishing in Oban adds about 5 km of road at the start and 2 km at the end, and walkers who stay at Port William retrace 40 minutes the next morning to the North Arm turn-off (DOC). Counted clockwise from town:

Day one, the coast. From the DOC visitor centre the road climbs over a series of hills by Horseshoe Bay to Lee Bay, the official park entrance, marked by a chain-link sculpture. Shuttles can drop you there if you would rather skip the road. The track follows the coast to Little River, where a bridge crosses the stream; at low tide you can also walk round the beach. At the southern end of Maori Beach a creek can be waded at low tide, or crossed by a small footbridge further along the track at high tide. Behind the Maori Beach campsite are the remains of the sawmills that worked here from 1913 until 1931, including a rusting steam boiler. A swing bridge crosses the tidal stream at the far end of the beach, and the track drops to the campsite above Magnetic Beach and Port William Hut a few minutes beyond (walking guide). Check a tide table before you leave Oban.

Day two, the interior. The longest day climbs back to the turn-off and crosses forested hills to North Arm, through previously milled and virgin podocarp forest and along old timber tramlines. This is where the mud is. After long rain, DOC warns, it can come above boot height, in stretches up to 500 m long. Gaiters are recommended, and poles help. Exposed netting and wooden steps can be slippery.

Day three, Paterson Inlet. The track sidles round the inlet past Sawdust Bay, where tidal flats draw wading birds at low tide, and the site of a 1914-1918 sawmill, to Kidney Fern Arm and Kaipipi Bay, then follows the old Kaipipi Road to the Fern Gully car park. The Ryans Creek track, an extra two hours, branches off 15 minutes before the road and gives a longer coastal finish (walking guide).

DOC times the circuit at three days. Parts of the track cross Māori land; access is by courtesy of the owners.

What the huts do and do not have#

Port William and North Arm huts have bunks, a wood burner and tank water, and very little else. There is no gas for cooking, no lighting and no toilet paper, and the bunkrooms are unheated. Bring a stove and gas, a torch, toilet paper, and firelighters and matches for the burner (Port William Hut). DOC's gear list asks for a three- to four-season sleeping bag; see what a sleeping bag's comfort rating means when choosing one.

Boil the water. Hut water is untreated, and DOC says high rat numbers on the island raise the risk of tank contamination. The same rats are the reason to keep food in a rodent-proof container or bag, especially at the campsites. Each campsite has a small cooking shelter, a rainwater tank and a toilet, but campers may not use the huts, and the campsites are a short walk from them, not beside them.

Nothing is sold on the track and the huts hold no emergency food, so carry spare meals in case weather delays you (DOC).

Seeing kiwi#

The kiwi here is the Rakiura tokoeka, a form of the southern brown kiwi. DOC's 2021 track guide estimated about 15,000 on the island, and said their calls are often heard at night and the birds are occasionally seen on the track by day (walking guide). DOC rates the Rakiura form "At Risk - Naturally Uncommon", and notes that it is unusual among kiwi for being active in daylight. The birds live in family groups, and young birds may stay in their parents' territory for up to seven years, helping to sit on the egg (DOC, Tokoeka). The island's introduced predators are rats, possums, feral cats and hedgehogs, which DOC's Predator Free Rakiura project aims to remove (DOC, Predator Free Rakiura). There are no stoats, ferrets or weasels, the mustelids that kill kiwi chicks on the mainland (Wikipedia).

On the track, the best chance is around the huts after dark. Listen for the calls and look for footprints in the sand. Cover your torch with a red filter, and use no flash or bright lights (DOC).

For better odds, take a guided trip from Oban. RealNZ runs two tours from the main wharf, timed to start around sunset and both for ages 15 and over:

• Rakiura Kiwi and Wildlife Encounter, NZ$269, about 4 hours 30 minutes, October to April (the same page's FAQ says to May): a 1.5-hour wildlife cruise, then a torchlit walk through coastal forest and along a beach at Little Glory Cove.
• Oneke by night - Walk with Kiwi, NZ$299, about 4 hours, November to March: a boat trip to Oneke, a cultural welcome in the whare, then a guided walk.

Neither promises a sighting, and walks can be changed or cancelled for weather or wildlife behaviour (RealNZ).

Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara is the daytime alternative. This pest-free open sanctuary in Paterson Inlet is a short boat ride from Golden Bay or Halfmoon Bay, with easy tracks and birds such as saddleback and yellowhead, which no longer live on Stewart Island itself, and kākā (DOC, Predator Free Rakiura). DOC says visitors occasionally see a tokoeka there in daylight; night visits are not allowed. Before you go, check your bags and boat for rats, and your boots, pockets and Velcro for seeds (DOC, Ulva Island). After a rat incursion, DOC laid brodifacoum bait in bait stations, removed on 5 June 2026; the island is open, but until about June 2027 keep away from any green bait pellets or carcasses and keep children close (DOC alert, checked 27 October 2026). Water taxis make the crossing, or RealNZ's Ulva Island Explorer, from NZ$179, combines the boat with a 1.5-hour guided walk (RealNZ). If you keep a bird list, Ulva and the Paterson Inlet flats are good places to submit a complete eBird checklist.

New Zealand sea lions rest on the beaches along the track and on Ulva. They can move fast when disturbed, so stay at least 20 m away (walking guide).

Weather, phones and hunters#

Strong wind, hail and heavy rain can arrive in any month, and DOC links to the NIWA forecast for the park. Mobile coverage stops at the edge of Oban, so carry a personal locator beacon, leave your plans with someone and write any change in the hut book. Off the track, the valleys are steep and thickly bushed; stay on it (DOC).

Rakiura is the only place in New Zealand where introduced white-tailed deer can be hunted on conservation land, and hunting goes on all year. Hunting is not allowed near the track, but you may meet hunters with rifles and hear shots in the distance (walking guide). Dogs are not allowed in the national park (DOC).

Sources, including DOC's live alerts (none for the Rakiura Track huts or campsites on that day), were checked on 27 October 2026. This guide is based on published sources, not a walk of the track. Fares, timetables and tour seasons change, so confirm them with the operators before you book.