KELLYS
Construction of the hut at Kellys was completed in 2001 by members of Gore & District Branch NZ Deerstalkers Association many of whom are regular hunters in Port Adventure. The builders were David McFadzien, Kevin Baxter, Ivan & Phil Sellwood, Allan Patterson, Geordie Milne, Owen Miles, Scott Damsteegh and Steve Hogg.
There is a large grassed area at Kellys suitable for tents. There is no cellphone reception at the hut.
Access. Either charter from direct from Bluff or ferry and charter from Halfmoon Bay. There is no mooring. Be warned that while the beach is idyllic in good weather it can get extremely rough making unloading and loading of dinghys extremely unpleasant. It is sometimes necessary to stand waiste deep in the water to hold dinghy's steady on arrival or departure.
The names
"I have been tempted to connect this name with the notorious Kelly of the brig Sophia who narrowly escaped destruction on the “Traps” in 1817, either before or after the alleged episode at Murdering Beach. He is probably identical with Kelly who owned the sealer Venus which was often around the island. But in spite of anything attractive in the theory , it must be given up: another Kelly lived there in the days of the Maori settlement, probably before 1850.
Fifes Creek Flows into Oyster Cove. It is named after G Fife a settler who still owns land there."
SOUTHLAND TIMES MAGAZINE 25 February 1928 STEWART ISLAND Its Place Names By Basil H Howard
It is also possible that Kellys is named after John Kelly who was the first white settler at Invercargill. Kelly lived for a time at Ruapuke and other places from the 1820's.
BOSOM
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The original “hut” at North Arm Port Adventure was a small punga clad bivvy which was lined with rimu sarking. It was very dark and dank inside and had an ongoing serious rat problem. By the early 1980s the external cladding of pungas was rotten and the floor pretty much non-existent.
At this time the Marine Department had a hut in Flounder Bay which was used for Fisheries Research. They had no further use for it and the decision was made to shift it to its present site. |
Flounder Bay is the first bay downstream on the opposite side of North Arm. The original research hut consisted of two spaces. One room was enclosed with a floor, some free standing bunk beds and a bench on one wall. The other room was actually just a storage garage space which was unlined and without floor. Access was via a garage door into that space and then a step up into the bunkroom. It proved quite a mission to move the hut.
All moveable stuff was stripped from it. A floating pontoon out of 2x 14 foot dinghies. They were spaced about 4/5 metres apart and timber lashed across them to form a deck. The dinghies were beached really early in the morning at high tide and as the tide receded they somehow managed to carry/slide/manoeuvre the hut out and position it on the pontoon. There was a lot of repositioning as the tide came back in to get the balance right as the dinghies started to refloat!! This was then hooked up a 12 foot Starcraft with its mighty 15hp Johnson outboard and proceeded to tow the whole shebang out into the Arm.
Unfortunately during the day a light wind had sprung up coming out of the Heron River. That combined with by then an outgoing tide meant they didn’t have the horsepower to motor up into the North Arm. They were slowly losing ground and getting drawn further out into the main Bay. By then they couldn’t even get back into Flounder Bay as they had passed its entrance.
How the lot didn’t end up on the bottom somewhere out in the middle of Port Adventure is a wonder. There was a slight lull in the wind and they were able to finally make sufficient headway to reach the shore near the southern end of the beach. That enabled everyone to get into the water and manhandle it along that rocky section of coast to the beach.
The hut was positioned near where the old bivvy had been sited and both rooms closed in and floored. The original hut was very lightly built enabling it to be physically lifted it up and manhandled it across in one piece. The recessed entranceway was created instead of a veranda because of cost and too many sandflies. The door was the one that previously gave access from the garage.
The management of this hut was taken over by the Trust in 2001. Since that time it has been reclad, reroofed, new aluminium windows fitted and a fibreglass toilet installed. The hut is a little larger than the standard Hunter Hut and has six bunks with room to sleep more. Bosom hut is in a sheltered bay but care is required in rough weather. A grassed area alongside the hut has room for tents.
Access. Either charter from direct from Bluff or ferry and charter from Halfmoon Bay. There is a mooring to secure boats on.
There is no cellphone reception at the hut.
The block takes it's name from from the bay named Abraham’s Bosom which is in Port Adventure. Both Abraham’s Bosom and Sarah’s Boson occur at the Auckland Isles. Early American whalers are possibly the authors of the names of those locations.
Further along the penninsula is a small bay marked on maps as Browns Garden. The identity of Brown has been lost with the passage of time. Local fishermen recall seeing fruit trees there in the 1960's but we are guessing all trace is long gone.
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LITTLE GLORY
This block is on the south side of Paterson Inlet. This campsite is at the head of Goose Cove inside Glory Cove. It used to be very wet campsite but a six bunk hut was built here in February 2001 by members of Southland Branch NZDA. The Branch had contributed $5000 to the Rakiura Hunter Camp Trust who manage this project. The builders were Dave Howden, Ray Phillips, John DeLury, Nathan Dawson, David Brown and Doug Hamilton. The hut is only 30 metres from the shoreline and was one of the first huts built in the project.
There are flat areas around the hut for tents.
Access: Transport either by Charter boat from Bluff or Halfmoon Bay or for smaller parties it can be economical to travel to the Bay by Stewart Island Ferry Service and hire a water taxi. The trick about this block is to try and schedule your arrivals and departures to the top of the tide to make the best access. The stony foreshore extends a considerable distance at low tide.
There is a mooring to secure boats off shore.
In 1927 Basil Howard described Glory Cove as "a small pretty bay in the extreme south east of Paterson Inlet. At present it is a favourite resort for launch trippers who call at Little Glory. Big Glory being a large inlet immediately to the west properly known as South West Bay. The Cove was a sealing and whaling base in the early days. Not so long ago trypots could be seen on the beach. The 'Glory' was a sealing brig on these coasts from 1822 - 1829 at the latter date she went ashore on the Chathams and was wrecked."
NORTH BIG GLORY
Another group of hunters who supported the Hunter Hut Trust was the Central Otago Deerstalkers Club. Their original plan was to build a hut at their favorite hunting area of Upper Lords River. They precut hut was on its way to the Island when DOC pulled the pin as at that time that area was a Nature Reserve and structures were prohibited. Their build was then diverted to North Big Glory. The builders were Peter Southee, Pieter Hoppen, Hans Biemond, Ken Leckie, Eric Whipp, John Searle and Bevan Todd.
The construction crew on completion day.
The hut was constructed on a terrace above the beach opposite Bravo Island. There are large rimu trees in the vicinity (one was taken down in 2019). Tannin from the rimu leaves that fall on the roof cause a taint in the water. It is not harmful, just slightly bitter, and you might get a slight taste in your tea or gin. Hut users should clear the spouting and flush the tank in periods of heavy rain.
There are tentsites near the hut and there is another just above the beach which tends to be damp in wet weather.
Access. Transport either by Charter boat from Bluff or Halfmoon Bay or for smaller parties it can be economical to travel to the Bay by Stewart Island Ferry Service and hire a water taxi. Generally there are no problems with access to the hut although at low tide it can a longer carry across the mudflats.
There is a no take paua area close to this block. Details here
Stainless steel bench now installed in veranda for cookups.
