A long and ambling winter road trip finally took us down to the bottom of the South Island. And by us, I mean myself and my friend Emma, who luck would have it was just as into the outdoors, and launching themselves into any opportune adventure, as I was. Sometimes even more so than me. We had spent the road trip encouraging each other to go surfing in the brisk winter seas with no hot shower awaiting us; hiking for several days even in the rain when no one else would and taking icy dips in glaciated lakes to the bemused stares of onlookers.
By the time we had made it the bottom of the South Island, we had perfected our routine of living out of a car, adding in adventures and making hearty meals out the back of the boot in the cold, dark early evenings. So far, we had learnt a lot, it was time to test ourselves and our friendship with a big mission.
There were two obvious options to satisfy our desire for an adventure down at the tip of the South Island – head to Stewart Island: 1. The Rakiura Track. 2. The North-West Circuit. Option 1 was too short to feel like we would have fully submerged ourselves into the wilderness of Stewart Island. And it was ruled out. That left us with ambitious Option 2. Part of an adventure for me is challenging yourself, going beyond your comfort zone without being rash.
The North-West Circuit is a 9-11 day tramp covering 125km in the remote wilderness, with no opportunity to resupply nor much likelihood of meeting many other people. There is only one town on the whole of Stewart Island – Oban. In hiking terms, 125km is not often that far to achieve over this period of time, but the time and distance indicated how rough the terrain would be in relation to other hikes.
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