FKT: Chris Taylor, Steve Tripp, Isaac Tripp - North West Circuit, Stewart Island (NZ) - 2025-04-06

Stewart Island's North West Circuit

Date: 4th–5th April 2025
Distance: 125km
Vertical Gain: 5,896m

The Build-Up

After a pretty restless sleep for all of us, we left Dunedin at 6:15am on Friday to catch the 9:45am ferry to Stewart Island. We’d been expecting a rough crossing, but it turned out to be a gentle “2 out of 10,” according to the captain. Not long after leaving Bluff, we could make out the northern coast of Rakiura—the coast we’d be running in just 24 hours’ time. That lifted the excitement levels another notch.

Once we hit the wharf at Oban, we dropped our packs at the accommodation and headed to the pub for a pre-mission pint of hazy and lunch, then back for a quick snooze before some last-minute reshuffling of gear.

The weather was as forecast: a heavy, wet mist with occasional light rain. Windy, but not cold. It was set to clear sometime after midnight Friday, and with a 4pm start time, that meant about 8 hours of wet weather. We chose to run the circuit clockwise - easier to plan the tide windows that way, though it makes for a harder, more technical finish.

We timed the start to hit Mason Bay Beach about two hours before the low tide at 12:04am and aimed to get around West Ruggedy Beach before high tide. One of the quirks of this route is how much the tides affect your planning. Get it wrong and you pay for it. We’d lined up two weekends, depending on which one gave us a weather window.

The Mission Begins

3:56pm – The Trailhead (Main Rd) → North Arm Hut

It was a wet start but we were all pumped and ready to take it on.  We got off to a good pace on the well-groomed Rakiura Track.

5:21pm – North Arm Hut → Freshwater Hut

As soon as we passed West Arm Hut and left the Rakiura Track you notice the difference in quality between a ‘Great Walk’ track and the less used North West Circuit.  We were pumped to get into the more technical tracks of the North West Circuit, not sure we were thinking the same later on.  We reached the summit on this section at 6.57pm.  This was a really cool climb, nice, steep and tight with heaps to hold onto then opens up towards the top.  At this stage we were in the clouds but we imagined some good views across the tops would have been had, we did get a couple of windows whilst descending to see the swampy plains below.

8:15pm – Freshwater Hut → Mason Bay Hut

We were like a whirlwind passing through Freshwater Hut, no doubt we left the trampers wondering what the hell was going on with talk of us aiming to get to the South Seas Hotel before last orders Saturday night!  Not long after leaving the hut we came across our first (of 13!) Kiwi sightings.  Such a magical animal, every time one waddled into our path it gave us a massive boost, it was like there were cartoon characters running around the woods!  We held a good pace on this section knowing it is the most runnable of the whole 125kms.  Chris was out front through the first 10kms until he disappeared up to his waist off the end of a boardwalk into the swamp.  We paid our price for the pace as when we arrived into Mason Bay Chris had a few stomach issues which needed sorting in the Long Drop, Isaac had been questioning if he would continue beyond the hut and Julia was having a rough time and had already made the decision to stop with Adam and get some sleep.  A real crux point in the loop: beyond here, there’s no easy out.

The Overnighter

10:15pm – Mason Bay Hut → Mason Bay Beach

Just before reaching the beach we came across a beautiful Whitetail deer, once spooked it bounced off with it’s huge tail standing tall and proud, quite an amazing sight.  The tide was well out so we had no tidal issues to worry about, in hindsight we could have started earlier than what we did and still got around.  Roughly a week prior there was an earthquake off Fiordland which had caused a small tsunami on this coast.  It would be a terrifying place to be in such an event as there is really no way off the beach up the steep sand dune cliffs which stretch extended distances.  Steve and Isaac ran the beach well but Chris had slowed up finding the runnable sections harder and was keen for some more technical trail.

11:21pm – Mason Bay Beach → Big Hellfire Hut

This was a technical section which challenged us all, super muddy and rooty which slowed us down.  Isaac had a rough time through the second half of this section with a sharp drop in his heartrate causing him to become queasy and lethargic.  We stopped to re-group on the porch of the hut and tend to Isaac.   We tried to be quiet as there were trampers sleeping inside and with it being the wee hours of the morning we didn’t want to wake them.

3:10am – Big Hellfire → East Ruggedy Hut

Right out of the hut we crossed a massive sand dune - impressive at nearly 300m elevation.  When we reached Waituna Bay Beach, Chris spotted a Leopard Seal in his spotlight, it even turned its head and looked straight at him, but when he momentarily switched his spot off and then on again it had miraculously vanished!  We all really struggled through this next section and hit the caffeine hard to push through to daylight.  It was a shame to be passing this section in darkness as it is reported to be stunning, good reason to get back there one day!  There is another High Tide risk at West Ruggedy Beach, and we managed to hit the beach pretty much bang on high tide, however it was easy enough to get around the rocky outcrop in between sets of waves.  We saw two Kiwi on this beach, then unfortunately came across a feral cat and as we climbed the sand dunes we were charged at by an overly confident stampeding mouse! By the time we reached East Ruggedy Hut we needed a stop and decided to take time for some foot care.

Daylight & the Long Haul

7:52am – East Ruggedy → Long Harry Hut

We left East Ruggedy Hut in the daylight and this gave us a massive boost.  We were moving well until we hit the three creek gullies feeding into Long Harry Bay.  If you let them these will break your soul, gain a heap of elevation only to lose it again, then repeat two more times.  We met our first trampers on the track at this point, stopped for a quick exchange of plans and carried on.  During our highs on this section we started to calculate how we were tracking, for we had been extremely slow at times and this concerned us.  Maths is never easy to work out when sleep deprived but thankfully Steve took control and worked out that if we can achieve 3kms an hour we will make it in time to finish under 35 hours.  From this point forward we would call out the pace as each KM passed and would celebrate any KM under 20 minutes!

10:58am – Long Harry → Yankee River Hut

Things were getting rough for all of us by now and the Trip Log Notes became stripped down to the bare essentials.  Funny how often, when most needed, nature provides and it sure did provide with the most amazing double Kiwi encounter, it was truly special.  It was on this section we started to get some phone reception and we checked in to see how Adam and Julia were getting on.  However, their trackers we not operating properly and there had been no communications from them, so we sent a message in hope they would get this when they got into reception.  The climb off Smoky beach through the Sand Dunes is quite the spectacle and was led by Isaac after testing his limits with a 7 minute KM on the beach followed by Steve, and by the time we got off the sand dunes Chris had finally caught up after his fast(slow) walk of the beach.

1:28pm – Yankee River → Christmas Village Hut

We had concerns of this section as there are 13 creek crossings but to our delight they were far easier than the 3 back near Long Harry Hut.  In fact this was our fastest section of the 2nd day with some very runnable board walks through the bush.  Oddly, towards the end of the section a strange phenomenon of the trip started to happen - when we approached within approx. 1.5kms of the next hut, time started to stand still and the hut never got closer, we would end up running that 1.5km for what felt like forever, it just never seemed to get closer!  We finally reached the junction to Mt Anglem/Hananui, took a quick look at the track heading up the hill, comments like Yeh/Nah, Like Hell, No Way were shared and then carried on down the hill.  At this point Steve was starting to see things, mostly the yellow and green of DOC huts and signs, he proclaimed there’s the hut to which Isaac and Chris remained quiet, wondering what the hell Steve was up to.

The Final Push

 5:30pm – Christmas Village → Bungaree Hut

The change of light back to darkness initially gave us a boost on this section and with the end in sight we literally put our heads down and pushed on.  We started to wonder how we would get back from the Trailhead to Oban, the thought of another 6 or 7kms on a sealed road sent shivers down our spines!  We had originally organised a taxi but we were running later than what we hoped and it was too late for this, we were also going to miss last orders at the pub!  There had been limited reception along the North Coast, and we had managed to check in with Adam and Julia, we were stoked to hear they had carried on and had made their way passed the Ruggedy Mountains.  Isaac messaged Jack, an old mate, and asked if he could pick us up at around 12.15pm, a big ask considering he would have to borrow a car!  It took a while but he responded to say yes and that he had two pizzas for us, bloody legend!

8:52pm – Bungaree → Port William Hut

There had been a lot of chat about this final section with us believing it could be a better formed track based on potentially the increased traffic it would see, turns out we were wrong!  Prior to leaving Big Bungaree Beach we all took a caffeine bullet for the final push, and into the bush we went up a short but super steep and muddy climb.  As we ducked over the summit we heard voices and came across a young couple tramping to Bungaree Hut.  Upon asking how they were going the French girl replied ‘Not very well’ in a rather broken but very French accent, we agreed, let them know they were nearly there and crashed on under some windfall and down the hill.  We then discussed how bloody tough and how mad one must be to tramp this route over 10 days!  Not long before Port William Hut the effects of the caffeine noticeably started to wear off as one by one we were reduced to slow motion and slurred speech.

12:46am – Port William Hut → Lee Bay Road

The wheels completely fell off for Chris and Steve in this section whereas Isaac, who had been stuffed for approx. 80kms, got a second wind, was now on fire and pretty much carried the team home!  We were met by a huge Whitetail Stag in the Campsite Shelter area, it was grazing about 5/10 meters from us and casually looked up at us and then returned to grazing.  Chris proclaimed it is a tamed deer and that DOC tame deer in these locations for the tourists, to which Steve and Isaac had no response or objection, just quietly accepted this madness and carried on.  Not long after this Chris’s legs gave up and Steve lost his eyesight.  Chris somehow long before now decided that when we got back on the Rakiura Track that we were basically finished, in turn his legs believed him and quit.  Steve’s was being guided by Isaac for he couldn’t see the track through his hallucinations of buildings, mostly African Villages.  The bridge over the inlet at the north end of Maori Beach confused Chris with him wondering what island we had crossed to.  Then we were swarmed with sea lice type insects attracted to our head torches so each of us switched them off and walked aimlessly down the beach to the Southern end where we couldn’t find the low tide exit through the fear of turning on our head torches and the panic of swarming insects.  With approx. 2 kms to go we experience the never-ending phenomenon again as the track seemed to go on and on and on.  One more sighting of a Kiwi at Little River gave the final boost required for Chris to crawl and Steve to be guided by Isaac across the finish line in 32hours 46minutes!

Meanwhile…Adam and Julia

Through broken communication we had managed to get Adam’s tracker working and could follow their progress, we estimated they would be arriving at the trail head not too long before our scheduled ferry departure on Sunday afternoon.  After being delivered back to the accommodation by Jack we had a well-deserved beer then hot showers and literally crashed at about 1.30am.  After a few hours of the usual uncomfortable and fitful sleep we woke up to see Adam and Julia had been making good time and should finish around lunchtime.  We headed down to The Snuggery for a breakfast snack and coffee, from here we arranged to meet Jack for breakfast at the South Seas Hotel.  A huge Big Breakfast with pint of coke was had by all as we started to wonder how we would collect Adam and Julia at the finish.  A failed attempt at organising a taxi for they were busy and Jack not being able to borrow another vehicle threw a spanner in the works.  Not to be beaten, Chris ducked out of the pub to the E-Bike hire shop across the road, he returned triumphant with 5 bikes hired with two arranged to be dropped off at the trailhead.  Jack secured staff rates and joined us for a cruise around Oban and then out to the finish to wait for the arrival of Adam and Julia.  They arrived looking better than how we did with awesome stories of beautiful sleeps, Jurassic Park valleys and huts full of food - something Steve, Isaac and Chris had literally no idea about at all.

Final Thoughts

The absolute beauty and innocence of what the Kiwi is and what it represents is something I believe must be seen to be appreciated.  For a country to be created with such a defenceless and beautiful animal with no predators is something else.  New Zealand has amazed me from the very first moment I started to dream of coming here nearly 30 years ago and continues to do so.  The richness of taking yourself into the wilderness is something I have valued for a very long time, but the NW Circuit of Stewart Island was something new, something so very special it is hard to put it into words. 

Kia Kaha, KBO.