Rakiura National Park is a nature reserve park located on

Stewart Island / Rakiura Stewart Island (, 'Aurora, glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island wit ...

, New Zealand. It is the newest national park of New Zealand and opened in 2002. The protected area covers about 85% of the island.

History

Park establishment

Rakiura National Park is the 14th of New Zealand's national parks and was officially opened on 9 March 2002 by the Prime Minister,

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

, the Minister of Conservation, Sandra Lee, and the mountaineer Sir

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

. It is New Zealand's newest national park.

Geography

Rakiura National Park covers close to , which is about 85% of Stewart Island / Rakiura, New Zealand's third-largest island. The park area excludes the township area around Halfmoon Bay (

Oban Oban ( ; meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William, Highland, Fort William. During the tourist seaso ...

) and some roads as well as private or Māori-owned land further inland. It is made up of a network of former

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s, scenic reserves, and State Forest areas. A chain sculpture at the entrance to Rakiura National Park symbolises the

Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...

of the island, which held that the South Island was the canoe of the demigod

Māui Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...

and that Rakiura was the canoe's anchor, as evidenced by an alternative name for the island of "Te Punga o Te Waka a Māui" (the anchor of Māui's canoe). The sculpture was designed by noted Southland sculptor Russell Beck, and was unveiled as part of the opening of the national park. In 2008, a similar sculpture was erected in Bluff, and it represents the other end of the chain.

Ecology

Fauna

Many native

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s can be found within the park, and Rakiura offers perhaps the best opportunity anywhere in New Zealand for viewing

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), an informal name for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible hairy fruit with many seeds * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of curren ...

in the wild. This is in part due to the absence of

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is a species of mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern regions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Concern on th ...

s and

ferret The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), as evidenced by the ferret's ability to inter ...

s. Home to the Southern brown kiwi or Tokoeka, this is the largest of the kiwi species. There are thought to be around 15,000 kiwi on Stewart Island / Rakiura. Certain coastal areas of this park are breeding areas for the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

yellow-eyed penguin The yellow-eyed penguin (''Megadyptes antipodes''), known also as hoiho, is a species of penguin endemic to New Zealand. It is the sole extant species in the genus ''Megadyptes''. Previously thought closely related to the little penguin (''Eud ...

Weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. Some authorities consider it as the only extant member of the genus '' Gallirallus''. ...

, a flightless and curious bird species, can only be found on offshore islands. The South Island

kākā The New Zealand kākā (''Nestor meridionalis'') is a large species of parrot of the family New Zealand parrot, Strigopidae found in New Zealand, New Zealand's native forests across the three main Islands of New Zealand. The species is often kn ...

can commonly be seen near the town of Halfmoon Bay and Ulva Island. In the 1970s,

kākāpō The kākāpō (; : ; ''Strigops habroptilus''), sometimes known as the owl parrot or owl-faced parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea. It is endemic to New Zealand. Kākāpō can be u ...

were found in the Tin Range at a time when it was thought that the species was nearly extinct. The kākāpō have been transferred to nearby Codfish Island / Whenua Hou, which is not part of the national park.

Tramping

Rakiura Track

The popular Rakiura Track is within the national park. The track typically takes three days and two nights to complete, the track is long. The track meanders through lowland kāmahi, tōtara and rimu forest. The track takes in Port William and the north arm of Paterson Inlet. Rakiura kiwi is often seen at night time near the huts.

Northwest Circuit

The Northwest Circuit circumnavigates the northern and western aspects of Stewart Island. The track is long and takes most people between eight and ten days to complete. Most of the track is along the coastline visiting a series of very isolated sandy beaches. Once it reaches Mason Bay, the track crosses the Freshwater Depression before reaching Paterson Inlet. There are ten huts on the track which are, in general, spaced between five and seven hours walk apart.

Southern Circuit

The Southern Circuit is a challenging nine-day tramping trip. It is long, and after rain can involve long periods of walking in mud and deep water. The Southern Circuit takes in Doughboy Bay Hut. This eight-bed hut is the southernmost hut in the Department of Conservation's network.

References

External links

Department of Conservation information on Rakiura National Park
{{authority control National parks of New Zealand Stewart Island Protected areas of the Southland Region Protected areas established in 2002 2002 establishments in New Zealand