International Stewart Island Tramp by .

International Stewart Island Tramp

A three day tramp to Stewart Island is what some of us Internationals, had the luck to experience!

Mr Thompson nicely took us to the anchor of the country that we were all dying to see since Stewart Island has always been presented to us as the 'original Aotearoa nature'.

So after an early departure to Invercargill airport we took off from the South Island in this tiny wobbly plane which took us to the other side of the third biggest island of New Zealand within 15 minutes, where we started our 3 day tramp of about 5 hours of walking a day on a gently up and down track.

It gave us enough time to slowly progress as we were stopping to admire the different bays we crossed and took some pictures. It also allowed us to arrive at the huts relatively early. While some of us were playing cards, others would go outside and explore the area, the beach as well as the bush. 

We all really enjoyed tramping in such a special part of New Zealand, the land of the kiwis, despite the fact that our group of internationals managed to be the only ones in the hut to miss out on the kiwibird wandering around in the morning (lazy internationals!!)

Tramping really makes us appreciate the small things of life, such as listening to the sounds of the forest at night, looking at the stars, but also realising how uncomfortable it is to live without a shower and a flush!

That's probably also the opinion of the pilot who brought us back after all those efforts, I felt a bit sorry for him. 

Seeing a wild kiwibird has therefore not been ticked off the list, a good reason to come back, but we'll at least be able to say that we walked one of the famous Great Walks of the country!