When talking about the land mass of New Zealand most refer to the North and South Island. However, New Zealand has actually three "major" islands with Stewart Island just below the South Island. The two main islands are already "remote" and laid-back places from a European or North American perspective but the speed on Stewart Island is runs in the next lower gear. It is a wild place with just a single "major" settlement - the little town of Halfmoon Bay the northern shores of the island. The rest is there for the nature, some Kiwi (the bird not the locals) and the occasional tramper (aka backpacker). Quite typical for an island there're a couple of nice beaches although the water temperatures are not really suitable for swimming - Antarctica isn't all that far away anymore. Nonetheless you don't need to fear icebergs yet. The forests are a mixture of coastal to alpine scrub.

As usual there're a couple of variations when it comes to trekking on Steward Island. Apart for a couple of shorter walks in the Halfmoon Bay vicinity there're two loop tracks - a northern and a southern one and on top of that you can combine both. It takes 10 and/or 5 days to do these loops but there's also another, shorter and pretty cool option available: usually you fly in to Stewart Island anyway but instead of going in and out of Halfmoon Bay you go a little further to the other (western) side of the island where small planes can actually land right on the beach in Mason Bay. From here you can cross the Island back to Halfmoon Bay which takes about 3 days. On the remaining day of your arrival it makes sense to explore the vast beach portion and to enjoy the sunset from the DOC hut which is located a few steps away. Initially, near the beach, the condition of the track is good till you reach the center of the island. Further north the trail deteriorates rapidly with lots of tree roots and especially mud slowing down your progress - strenuous but fun nonetheless.