Stewart Island Part 3

I'm still reminiscing about my Stewart Island trip, this is part 3 of 4 of me sharing my photos from the 4 days I spent there. Day 3 of my Stewart Island trip was a funny one, I figured the best way to see as much of the Island as possible in a short space of time was to catch a water taxi part way around the Island and walk back to Oban. I chose Maori Beach, as it seemed far away enough to see a bit of Rakiura National Park but not be too far out in the wilderness. The taxi trip was pretty incredible, getting to see the rugged coastline of Stewart Island was just breath-taking, I find it so fascinating that one minute all you can see is cliff faces, then the next minute you are greeted with stunning sandy beaches. It was high tide on Maori Beach so we had to jump out of the boat into the shallow water and walk along the beach, the beach was surprisingly busy, with lots of trampers making their way along it. The walk back to Oban follows a track along the coastline, then comes to a cross road where there is the option to continue along the coastline or up a hill called 'Garden Mound'. I chose to go up Garden Mound in the hopes of seeing more birds, as the coastline walk didn't seem to be too bird-populated. I think that was a mistake, the walk was steep, muddy and there wasn't many birds at all. The windy track came to an end (after about 3 hours of walking) and met up with a road, which I was so glad to see as I was starting to worry I had taken a wrong turn! Then was a 4 Kilometre walk back to Oban along the road, by that time I was pretty exhausted and couldn't wait to put my feet up!

If I went back again I don't think I would take the same track, instead I would explore different tracks, maybe the walk from Mason Bay to Oban would be more bird friendly. Nonetheless it was a pleasant day and I did get to see some birds, just not as many as I was expecting. Some of them were showing strange behaviour, feeding in the mud, which I have never seen before.

Here are the few photos I took that day, there is one more part in this series, day 4, which was probably my favourite day, those photos will be next :-)