The Isle of Blushing Skies

New Zealand’s remote Stewart Island (Rakiura), and its Tracks: Part One — Oban, Ulva, and Port William

Revised 18 November 2021

Stewart Island/Rakiura, with localities marked specially for this post (Oban, Port William, Freshwater Landing, Mason Bay/Oneroa, Little Hellfire Beach and Big Hellfire Beach). Map data ©2021 Google. This map does not show all of the Rakiura Track.

STEWART Island, or Rakiura, is the southernmost of New Zealand’s three main islands. You get to it from Invercargill or Bluff on the South Island mainland, of which a sliver is shown in the map above, either by ferry or by plane. The main port of arrival is Oban, though it is possible to fly to many locations on the island.

The island’s Māori name, Rakiura, means ‘blushing [or glowing] skies’ and is the more poetic in my view. It seems to be a reference to long twilights in these subantarctic latitudes, the aurora australis which can sometimes be seen from here, or both.

Vintage New Zealand Government tourism poster seen at Auckland public library, April 2018. Crown copyright reserved.

Most of the island is covered by Rakiura National Park, established in 2002. Only a little over four hundred people live on the island, most of them in Oban, the island’s only township, which is outside the national park.

There are three major tracks on the island. These are: