13 Tons Off Rakiura. Inside the Rakiura Coastal Clean Up
Date: 31 August 2026Rakiura Stewart Island's west coast is about as remote as New Zealand gets, bordering Rakiura National Park and reachable only by boat, helicopter, or a very long walk. It's also, like most coastlines, catching rubbish it never asked for. Fishing gear, plastic, and debris wash in from the Southern Ocean and pile up on beaches most people will never see.
Each year, Southern Coastal Charitable Trust runs a clean up to do something about it. In July 2026, a team of 22 volunteers spent four nights at Island Hill Homestead in Mason Bay, clearing the coastline from Doughboy Bay along Mason Bay and up to the Ruggedy Beaches.
RealNZ sponsors the clean up, covering free ferry trips over to Oban and back for volunteers. This year, two RealNZ staff joined the team on the ground, including Sophie Moy, Trade & Experience Marketing Lead, who spent the four nights at Island Hill Homestead working alongside volunteers from around the country.
Getting there was half the job
Much of this stretch of coast isn't accessible on foot. Volunteers, Sophie included, worked in groups of four and were flown by helicopter from hut to beach and beach to beach each day, the only way to reach some of the more remote bays. Three full days of physical work in a part of the country that rarely sees anyone at all.
What three days on the coast turns up
Fishing buoys. Nets. Ropes. Bait snifters. Plastic bottles, sheeting and strapping. A shoe. Half a kayak. A sealed plastic drum, still full. A whale vertebra, which stayed on the beach where it was found.
By the end of the three days, the group had cleared 13 tons of rubbish off Rakiura's coast, most of it plastic.
Why it matters
Rakiura's west coast is one of the least modified stretches of coastline left in New Zealand, and one of the hardest to reach and maintain. Clean ups like this one rely depend on charitable trusts, volunteer hours, and support from organisations willing to cover the logistics of getting people there. Without that access, most of what washes up simply stays.
Joyce, who owns Wairaurahiri Jet, is also a Southern Coastal Charitable Trust member. There's moreMore from this year's trip on the Wairaurahiri Jet Facebook page.
