Rakiura National Park
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Infobox Protected area Rakiura National Park is a nature reserve park located on Stewart Island / Rakiura, 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, the Minister of Conservation, Sandra Lee, and the mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary.<ref name="NZ Herald 1190818" /> It is New Zealand's newest national park.<ref name="Te Ara p1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Geography
Rakiura National Park covers close to Template:Convert,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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) and some roads as well as private or Māori-owned land further inland.<ref name="NZ Herald 1190818">Template:Cite news</ref> It is made up of a network of former nature reserves, scenic reserves, and State Forest areas. A chain sculpture at the entrance to Rakiura National Park symbolises the Māori mythology of the island, which held that the South Island was the canoe of the demigod Māui 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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The sculpture was designed by noted Southland sculptor Russell Beck, and was unveiled as part of the opening of the national park.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NZ Herald 1190818" /> In 2008, a similar sculpture was erected in Bluff, and it represents the other end of the chain.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Ecology
Fauna
Many native birds can be found within 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. 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Certain coastal areas of this park are breeding areas for the endangered yellow-eyed penguin.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Weka, a flightless and curious bird species, can only be found on offshore islands.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The South Island kākā can commonly be seen near the town of Halfmoon Bay and Ulva Island.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the 1970s, kākāpō 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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 Template:Convert long. The track meanders through lowland kāmahi, tōtara and rimu forest. The track takes in Port William and the north arm of Paterson Inlet.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rakiura kiwi is often seen at night time near the huts.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Northwest Circuit
The Northwest Circuit circumnavigates the northern and western aspects of Stewart Island. The track is Template:Convert 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.<ref name=":0" />
Southern Circuit
The Southern Circuit is a challenging nine-day tramping trip. It is Template:Convert long, and after rain can involve long periods of walking in mud and deep water.<ref name=":0" /> The Southern Circuit takes in Doughboy Bay Hut. This eight-bed hut is the southernmost hut in the Department of Conservation's network.<ref name=":1" />
See also
- National parks of New Zealand
- Forest parks of New Zealand
- Tramping in New Zealand
- Protected areas of New Zealand
References
External links
Template:Stewart Island / Rakiura Template:National Parks of New Zealand