Stewart Island Historical Tours: Top 5 Picks & Insights
Stewart Island, or Rakiura as it’s also known, which means “glowing skies” in Maori, is just a little off the southern tip of New Zealand, and it is brimming, almost, with tales from long ago. This place offers visitors an opportunity, anyway, to step back in time and, like, see what it was once. Very many tours zero in on different chapters of the island’s interesting past, from Maori legends to European settlement and the whaling days that happened here. If you’re keen to, just you know, explore Stewart Island’s roots, very consider one of these, just you know, five historical tours.
1. Rakiura Museum Tour: A Deep local History
First off, there’s the Rakiura Museum. Located, really, in Oban, the main settlement on Stewart Island, this place is just loaded with artifacts and stories from the island’s background. As I was saying, from displays on early Maori life to tales of the first European settlers and, okay, whaling industry information, the museum pretty much covers all of it. It is just a beginning place if you’re planning to explore any part of the area and its history.
You will walk into a recreation of an old time house of some kind and view ancient artifacts, it really is a great overview. Visiting this spot before moving along with other things to see is a good idea. Basically, just a heads up: it’s an indoor tour, okay, it will be available no matter what the weather!
Read our full review: Rakiura Museum Tour Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Rakiura Museum Tour)
2. Ulva Island Bird Sanctuary and Historical Site
Ulva Island isn’t too far from Stewart Island and it offers kind of both beauty and background. It’s well known as a sanctuary for lots of native birds but it’s got stories to tell as well. It is a chance to listen to and experience what it was like to, just you know, exist there back then.
While, as I was saying, not fully focused just on past stories, it, like your know, blends them into the experience of just seeing an island and the place’s natural environments. The Department of Conservation looks after a walking track that runs past historic places, such as the sites of old Maori dwellings and early European homes. If you listen close you may find what stories are out there to find.
Read our full review: Ulva Island Bird Sanctuary Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Ulva Island Bird Sanctuary)
3. Whalers Base Exploration by Boat Tour
Basically, Stewart Island’s story is tightly linked to the whaling business from years ago. A boat tour that goes into whaling stations, as a matter of fact, shows you a peek into the day to day of all those involved in this dangerous lifestyle.
That said, a trip will usually show you the remains of whaling bases and give stories of the guys who used to be there. It is sort of a stark reminder of, you know, how things went during those times and how they were used back then to impact the world economy.
Read our full review: Stewart Island Whaling History Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Stewart Island Whaling History)
4. Oban Historic Walk
To that end, why not step out to see Oban, the chief center on Stewart Island? With an outing here it does feel much like walking in the past and taking the time to consider how stuff took place.
Walking around you will find old building types and, by the way, sites. Keep checking as plaques on display may highlight the histories that are very crucial to the community as a whole.
Read our full review: Oban Historic Walk Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Oban Historic Walk)
5. Maori Heritage Sites Exploration
For all that it means to New Zealand itself, you need to gain some insight from any indigenous perspective. A number of tours do take you near to spots considered old pa positions as part of recognizing and respecting where Maori roots went to form the region.
Guides, okay, will tell you ancient Maori folk tales and how places factor into that tradition for a place so wild and special. If one selects well one has an opening in exploring those components through walking on traditional territory as guided properly in a way respecting that heritage fully while you are around on Stewart Island or Rakiura. Be conscious to reserve ahead since these tend not be conducted frequently due time to gather respect around ancestral culture as they are shown properly if you get that opportunity. Respect goes further rather then having a guide just rush people along in view as though viewing only attraction.
Read our full review: Maori Heritage Stewart Island Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Maori Heritage Stewart Island) Stewart Island Historical Tours Full Review and Details
