Rakiura National Park, New Zealand
Posted On June 3, 2010
When you arrive at the Rakiura National Park you will feel yourself walking back in to time, when the birds ruled New Zealand.
Numerous people believe that New Zealand is made up of two islands, whereas it is actually made up of three disconnected island. Subantarctic Stewart Island is located at a distance of 30 kms in the southern region of the South Island. The total land area of this island is just about 2000 sq km, and around 85% of its total land mass is included inside the borders of Rakiura National Park.
Rakiura National Park is a recent addition to the national park portfolio of New Zealand. This national park is an enthralled world of untouched habitats and ecosystems. Ranging from the dense coastal rainforests and freshwater wetlands up to the vast sand dunes and granite mountain ranges, this national park offers an outstanding opportunity to observe inhabitant wildlife and also the primeval landscapes.
Rakiura National Park – Key Highlights
Rakiura in simple English language means ‘the Land of Glowing Skies’. It is a name, which talks about both the stunning night-sky phenomenon known as the Aurora Australis (locally known as the Southern Lights) and also the magnificent sunsets observed on the western horizon.
Night hours are extremely special within this park for various other reasons too. Whilet you are relaxing inside a hut, you are sure to hear night-time birds. The huts in this park are looked after by Department of Conservation. Here you will hear the calls of weak, the ruru (the native owl), and kiwi. While exploring the Stewart Island, you may possibly get an excellent opportunity of seeing kiwi living in the wild.
All through the hours of daylight, the serenade continues. In company with bellbirds, tui, tomtits, fantails, and grey warblers, you will be also hearing to the songs of red-crowned parakeets, Stewart Island robins, and bush parrots and. The coastal borders of this island are abode to fernbirds, three species of penguin, weak, and banded rails, and various other kinds of seabird.
Rakiura National Park – Accommodation
The Department of Conservation offers more than 20 huts for the hikers within Rakiura National Park, which include few ‘Great Walk’ huts, which provide a standard higher-than-usual kind of accommodation. Oban is the only town on this island and provides the island tourist with motel, B & B, lodge accommodation, and hotel.
For reaching Rakiura National Park, you will require to have a one-hour long ferry ride from town of Bluff, located in South Island, where numerous accommodation options are found.
The popular Rakiura Track is within the national park. Many native birds can be found within in the park, and Rakiura offers perhaps the best opportunity anywhere in New Zealand for viewing kiwi in the wild. This is in part due to the absence of stoats and ferrets. Certain coastal areas of this Park are breeding areas for the endangered Yellow-eyed Penguin.