After a spot of breakfast Tim dropped us off at Invers Airport to meet our lift to the Bluff ferry terminal. The lift was uneventful and the views down to Bluff were grey. We boarded the small Stewart Island ferry for a bit of a rough ride over the Foveaux Strait. If the truth be told I was a tad hungover after last nights fun so the one hour crossing felt a lot longer for me! Once on stable ground though I perked up somewhat and then again after a giant Twix.

We wandered rather aimlessly round Oban for some time trying to decide what to do. OUr plan had been to catch a water taxi to Mason Bay and stay ina hut there but neither of us could be bothered to do anything and really just wanted an afternoon nap. On enquiring at the youth hostel we were informed that there was no room at the inn and indeed on the whole island! This meant that we had to resort to Plan A and get ourselves to a backcountry hut where we were sure to find at least some floor space. We called into the DOC office and were given some useful advice by a very friendly warden, who even palyed us a CD of kiwi bird calls so we would know what to listen out for. Following the wardens advice our new plan was to get a water taxi to Freshwater Hut and stay there for the night, walk to Mason Bay hut the next day and spend the night there, walk back the day after and catch the water taxi back to town for our Sunday night booking in the backpackers.

We caught the water taxi from Halfmoon Bay jetty and the sun came out as we waited so we could appreciate the pretty bay and amazingly clear water. The water taxi ride was bout 40 minutes long and went round Paterson Inlet and then followed the snake-formation of Freshwater River up to the hut. On our boat were also Anita a Justin, a Kiwi couple taking six months off work to do South Island multi-day hikes, and a Finnish girl whose name I never quite got my head round - sorry! Justin and Anita were dab hands at clearing and sorting rat traps (thank goodness) and getting the wood burning stove going.

The hut was basic but we all had our dinner and were chatting away in the candlelight when five more trampers arrived. The hut is on the North West Stewart Island ciruit and the guys who arrived (four Americans and a Kiwi (four students studying at Dunedin and making the most of their mid-semester break)) were on day 8 of their tramp. Ouch. They was really funny and almost drunk with happiness at reaching a hut with spare bunks (they'd walked 4 hours further than they'd planned today as the previous hut was full!) but boy did they smell!