- Where
- 30 km south of the South Island
across Foveaux Strait - Coordinates
- 46.9000° S
168.1170° E - Biome
- Podocarp and hardwood forest,
shrubland, wetland, coastal dune - Protected
- c. 85% of the island
Rakiura National Park, 2002 - People
- About 390, nearly all in Oban
- Roads / tracks
- Roughly 25–28 km of road
245–280 km of walking track - Best visited
- Oct–April; March–Sept for aurora
Crossed a strait that made several of us regret breakfast, to reach an island with one small town and almost nothing else. Then a bird that is famously never seen walked out onto the beach in the afternoon and got on with its day. I was told this is not unusual here. It is unusual everywhere else, which is the part worth sitting with.
The short answer
Rakiura — Stewart Island — is New Zealand’s third largest island and its southernmost inhabited one, lying about 30 kilometres beyond the South Island across Foveaux Strait. Around 390 people live there, nearly all in the single township of Oban. About 85 per cent of the island is Rakiura National Park, established in 2002 as New Zealand’s fourteenth and newest. There are roughly 25 to 28 kilometres of road and between 245 and 280 kilometres of walking track. In 2019 it was designated an International Dark Sky Sanctuary, the southernmost on Earth. The Māori name means land of glowing skies.
Why it's worth knowing
Everyone knows kiwi are nocturnal. It is one of the handful of facts about New Zealand wildlife that travels — a shy, flightless, nocturnal bird you will almost certainly not see.
On Rakiura, kiwi feed in the afternoon.
The Stewart Island tokoeka forages in daylight, on beaches and in open ground, and visitors see them without night-vision equipment or luck. The reason is an absence: there are no stoats on this island. Mustelids — stoats, ferrets, weasels — were introduced to mainland New Zealand in the nineteenth century in a spectacularly ill-judged attempt to control rabbits, and they proved devastating to ground-dwelling birds. They never reached Rakiura.
So what you are watching is not an unusual kiwi. It is an ordinary kiwi, behaving the way kiwi behaved before something arrived that hunted them by sight. Nocturnality, in this bird, is not a trait. It is a scar.
That reframes the whole island. Rakiura is defined by things that are not there. No stoats, so the birds come out. Almost no people — 390 of them — and almost no roads, so the forest goes to the water on nearly every side. And almost no light, which is why the sky above it was certified in 2019 as one of the darkest accessible places on the planet.
Most remarkable places are remarkable for what they contain. This one is remarkable for what never got here.
The field notes
The strait
Foveaux Strait has a reputation, and it is earned. Thirty kilometres of shallow water open to the Southern Ocean at the latitude of the roaring forties produces a short, steep, confused sea, and the hour-long ferry crossing from Bluff is discussed on the island the way weather is discussed elsewhere.
The alternative is a twenty-minute flight from Invercargill in a small aircraft, which is smoother but subject to its own cancellations. Many visitors fly one way and sail the other, and a good number decide after the sailing which way they will return.
The strait is also the reason the island is what it is. It is a barrier that mustelids never crossed, and the water that makes the island inconvenient is the water that kept it intact.
Ulva Island, where the fence is the sea
In Paterson Inlet, a short water-taxi ride from Oban, lies Ulva Island — Te Wharawhara. It is a predator-free open sanctuary managed by the Department of Conservation, and the word open is doing real work: there is no enclosure and no gate. The sea is the fence.
Rats were eradicated and the forest has recovered to a degree that visitors consistently describe as disorienting. South Island saddleback, yellowhead, rifleman, Stewart Island robin and Stewart Island brown kiwi all live there, and the robins in particular have no reason to be afraid of a person and behave accordingly — hopping onto boots, following walkers along the track to see what gets turned over.
Well-kept trails run through the whole island and it can be walked comfortably in a few hours. Visitors are asked to check bags and pockets for stowaway rodents before boarding, which sounds fussy until you understand that a single pregnant rat would undo forty years of work.
The parrot that was found here
By the 1970s the kākāpō — the world’s heaviest parrot, flightless, nocturnal and given to freezing when threatened, which works against hawks and not at all against cats — was believed to be functionally extinct. A handful of males had been found in Fiordland, and no females at all.
Then in 1977 a population was located on Stewart Island. It ran to roughly two hundred birds and, critically, it included females. That discovery is the reason the species exists today.
The birds were subsequently moved to smaller predator-free islands, where the recovery programme continues under intensive management. Some accounts still describe kākāpō on Rakiura in the present tense; this entry does not, because the population that saved the species was translocated. What is true is that without this island there would be no kākāpō anywhere.
Glowing skies, both kinds
The name refers to two things, and visitors usually arrive knowing about one of them.
The first is the aurora australis. At 47 degrees south with no light pollution and an open southern horizon over water, Rakiura is among the best accessible places on Earth to see the southern lights, and the odds are best between March and September when the nights are long.
The second is the sunsets, which burn along the western horizon over Mason Bay and the open ocean beyond it, and which the name is equally understood to describe.
The Dark Sky Sanctuary designation, granted in 2019, is the strictest of the DarkSky International categories and is reserved for remote sites with exceptional skies and fragile conservation status. There are very few, and this is the southernmost.
- Take something for the crossing before you board, not after.
- Go to Ulva Island. Half a day, and the birds have no idea they should be afraid.
- Take an evening kiwi tour, then hope for a daytime one anyway.
- Stay out after dark and look south.
- Check your pockets before boarding. Ten seconds, whole forest.
A pocket check. Before boarding the water taxi to Ulva Island, visitors are asked to look through their bags and pockets for stowaway rodents. It takes ten seconds, nobody inspects you, and it is the entire biosecurity system for a forest that took decades to recover. One pregnant rat in one rucksack would undo all of it.
Tally, in the marginTen seconds of looking in your own bag, and that is the entire defence. Nobody checks. It works because people bother.
Getting there
How to get there. Two ways. The ferry from Bluff, near Invercargill, takes about an hour across Foveaux Strait. It is a genuinely rough crossing more often than not — take something for it before boarding rather than after. Or a twenty-minute flight from Invercargill in a light aircraft, weight-restricted and weather-dependent, which many visitors find worth the fare in one direction at least.
Oban is the only settlement, with a pub, a shop, a museum and a few dozen beds. Accommodation is limited and books out; this is not a place to arrive and look around for a room. Bring anything specific you need, because the shop is a shop rather than a supermarket.
What to do. Ulva Island is the single best half-day on the island — water taxi, predator-free forest, birds that have never learned to be wary. The Rakiura Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, is a 32 km circuit over about three days with huts that must be booked. Shorter walks run from Oban directly: Fern Gully, Ryan’s Creek, Horseshoe Point.
For kiwi, guided evening tours run to beaches where the birds forage, and they are the reliable option. Daytime sightings do happen and cannot be scheduled.
When to go. October to April for walking and the longest days. March to September for the aurora, accepting shorter daylight and worse weather. It rains here in every month, and the forest is what it is because of that.
Two things to actually do. Check your bags for rodents before boarding for Ulva — it is asked of everyone and it matters. And carry insect repellent: the sandflies on the west coast beaches are a serious and unromantic proposition.
Mark this place
Common questions
Why can you see kiwi during the day on Stewart Island?
Because there are no stoats on the island. Mustelids introduced to mainland New Zealand in the nineteenth century hunt by sight and devastated ground-dwelling birds, driving surviving kiwi into strictly nocturnal habits. They never reached Rakiura, so the Stewart Island tokoeka still forages in daylight — which is how kiwi behaved before the predators arrived.
What does Rakiura mean?
It is usually translated as ‘land of glowing skies’. The name is understood to refer both to the aurora australis, frequently visible from the island, and to the sunsets that burn along the western horizon over the open ocean.
How do you get to Stewart Island?
By ferry from Bluff, near Invercargill, taking about an hour across Foveaux Strait; or by light aircraft from Invercargill, about twenty minutes. The ferry crossing is often rough — the strait is shallow, exposed and at the latitude of the roaring forties. Many visitors travel one way by each.
What is Ulva Island?
A predator-free open sanctuary in Paterson Inlet, a short water-taxi ride from Oban, managed by the Department of Conservation. Rats were eradicated and the forest and birdlife have recovered dramatically. South Island saddleback, yellowhead, rifleman, Stewart Island robin and Stewart Island brown kiwi all live there. Visitors are asked to check bags for stowaway rodents before boarding.
How much of Stewart Island is national park?
About 85 per cent. Rakiura National Park was established in 2002, making it New Zealand’s fourteenth and newest national park, and covers close to 1,400 square kilometres. The excluded areas are the township around Oban, some roads, and private or Māori-owned land.
Can you see the Southern Lights from Stewart Island?
Frequently. At 47 degrees south, with an open southern horizon over water and almost no light pollution, Rakiura is among the best accessible places in the world for the aurora australis. The odds are best between March and September, when nights are long. The island was designated an International Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2019 — the southernmost on Earth.
Are there kākāpō on Stewart Island?
Not now, but the species survives because of the island. By the 1970s kākāpō were thought functionally extinct, with only a few males known in Fiordland. In 1977 a population of roughly two hundred birds, including females, was found on Stewart Island. Those birds were later moved to smaller predator-free islands where the recovery programme continues.
How long should you spend on Stewart Island?
Two to three days covers Ulva Island, a couple of short walks from Oban and an evening kiwi tour. The Rakiura Track, a Great Walk, is a 32 km circuit taking about three days on its own, with huts that must be booked in advance. Given the ferry crossing and the weather, allow flexibility rather than a tight schedule.