We decided that we would hike the 36 km Rakiura Track in one day, so we arranged our day to allow us to get back for the 6:30 p.m. ferry back to Bluff. We woke up at 5:15 a.m. and we were picked up by the Tuk Tuk lady at 6 a.m. for a ride to Lee Bay to save us 5 km - $25. We started hiking the Rakiura Track in the dark with headlamps at 6:15; it got light about 6:30-7:00 when I could take our first picture of the day. The trail to the Fort William branch was good. Then the next section was nearly all board walk or board steps as shown in one of the pictures. We met Marco on the trail about half way across to North Arm Hut. We stopped at North Arm hut for food and water, and hiked out to the road by 2:15 p.m. making it 8 hr from Lee Bay. After getting to Halfmoon Bay DOC we watched a video on Kiwis because we hadn't seen any. Then it was back to the ferry for a ride to the mainland. This time the sea was calm making the ride a pleasure; no one got sea sick this time. About ¾ of the way across, we saw dolphins; the skipper stopped the boat and let the dolphins entertain us for about 10 minutes. Tomorrow morning we will phone about a cruise on Milford Sound.
Here is the Tuk Tuk, the only taxi on Stewart Island.
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