​McArthur Range, West Coast – March 2023

​The McArthur Range is a typically rugged West Coast range, situated north of the Arahura River, and west of the Taipo Valley. Two bivouacs grace its tops; the Lower Olderog and Top Olderog. The latter recently got an extensive overhaul, thanks to funding from the Kaimahi for Nature (Jobs for Nature) scheme, and orchestrated by the Backcountry Trust’s energetic Ollie Clifton.
 
The team included Permolat legend Andrew Buglass, machine-efficient Al Ritchie, and Liam Hall.

​Kahurangi’s Tableland has long been a place that enchants people with its rolling tussock landscapes studded with pockets of beech forest. Balloon Hut lies on the edge of one such beech enclave. The first hut here was an old miner’s one, built in 1909, which was replaced in 1963 with the existing hut. In 1995 the Waimea Tramping Club renovated the hut in preparation for the opening of Kahurangi National Park the following year. The club own and maintain the facility with the help of DOC.
 
Balloon Hut recently got some much-needed attention, thanks to some funding from the Kaimahi (Jobs) for Nature budget. The work was orchestrated by the Backcountry Trust.

​Rocky Creek Biv lies in the headwaters of Rocky Creek, a tributary of the Taipo River east of Hokitika. A two-day tramp is possible using tracks and routes that connect Rocky Creek with the upper Griffith Creek, en route enjoying a stay at either Griffith Hut or Rocky Creek Biv. The area is famed for its incredible gorges and impressive canyons. The New Zealand Canyoning Association rates the canyon in Griffin Creek as ‘world class’.
 
In December 2022 a team funded by the Kaimahi (Jobs) for Nature scheme completed some excellent work at the bivouac over two action-packed days. The team included regulars Al Ritchie, Pete Braggins and Pete Sinclair, along with the Backcountry Trust’s Ollie Clifton.

​One of the most northerly huts in the northern Tararua Range is Burn Hut, situated on a ridge near Taramea (837 metres), high above the Mangahao River. The 6-bunk hut was built in 2002 by the Horowhenua Hunting Club, replacing an older Forest Service hut of the same name in a nearby location. The Backcountry Trust recently funded track work in the area, using Kaimahi for Nature funding generously given by the government.

​Ruahine Forest Park, Manawatū – 17-19 May 2022

​The 8-bunk Leon Kinvig Hut lies in the mid-reaches of the Pohangina River, right in the centre of Ruahine whio country. Originally built by the New Zealand Forest Service in 1963-4, the hut was named after a young deer culler Leon Kinvig, who was drowned in the Pohangina River. Recently a team of Backcountry Trust team funded by Kaimahi for Nature, and led by Joe Eagles, braved autumn weather to upgrade the hut, including the installation of a new wood-burner.

​The Mōkihikui River North Branch drains a huge chunk of country south of the Wangapeka Track, in what is now the southwestern corner of our second largest national park. It’s a place of complex topography, riven by past earthquakes, and huge extents of forest, threaded by many different tributaries. One of these is the Johnson, and in its lower reaches lies the remote and rarely visited Johnson Hut.

In April 2022, a team led by Tim Marshall treated this lovely wee 4-bunker to a very timely spruce-up. The work was funded by Kaimahi for Nature, and orchestrated by the Backcountry Trust’s northern South Island manager Ollie Clifton.

Doughboy Bay Hut is the southernmost shelter on the Southern Circuit of Rakiura. Nestled in the forest among the Southern rātā, rimu, flax and crown fern, the hut offers shelter for trampers tackling the circuit, or hunters in pursuit of the island’s whitetail deer. The existing hut has been on site for nearly 20 years, when the old Long Harry Hut was shifted to replace a dilapidated bivvy and tent camp.

Like other huts in Rakiura National Park, Doughboy Bay Hut needed attention, and in April 2022 a Backcountry Trust team and DOC rangers set to the task, with funding from Kaimahi for Nature.

​Located on the popular Old Ghost Road track, Goat Creek Hut oozes history. The small hut lies on a river terrace near the confluence of Goat Creek with the Mōkihinui River South Branch. It was one of a group of huts built in the mid-1950s by staff from the Nelson Conservancy of the New Zealand Forest Service, using materials dropped out of a plane. It was an early experimental hut design for wild animal culling purposes.

​What’s harder than building a new hut in the backcountry? Relocating an existing one.
 
Years of speculation, multiple geotech reports, months of planning, and now weeks of effort have resulted in a new location for Belltown Mananui Hut, in the Little Wanganui Valley. Thanks to funding from Kaimahi for Nature, an Ultimate Descents team led by Tim Marshall completed this epic hut relocation in March. Now the hut is better, warmer and more appealing than ever.

The February 2020 floods created significant infrastructure damage in the southern part of Mt Aspiring National Park and the northern part of Fiordland National Park. One of the bridges washed away was located at a critical ford of the Dart River at Daleys Flat. This swingbridge provided essential access to the Barrier Ranger for parties accessing Seal Col and the Margaret Glacier, one of the important routes in and out of the Olivine Wilderness Area.

​The 16-bunk Rocks Hut sits perched on the Bryant Range, literally just up the hill from downtown Nelson. The current version (erected by the New Zealand Forest Service in 1983-4) is the third hut on site, with two earlier versions built by the Nelson Tramping Club.

​Otukota Hut lies on the lower flanks of the Mokai Patea Range, set in a clearing below the junction of the Waikamaka and Maropea Rivers. A standard S70, ex-NZFS hut, it was built in the 1970s?, and badly needed some work. The BCT’s Megan Dimozantos organised an excellent crew, who completed the work in October 2021, with welcome funding from the Kaimahi for Nature (KFN) programme.

​Ahaura Valley, West Coast – January 2022

​Cone Creek Hut is one of those gems, infrequently visited, but well worth the effort – even more so right now, after generous  ‘Kaimahi for Nature’ funding enabled a cracker team to restore the hut.

​Wellington is well-known as a MTBing Mecca, and the Kapiti Coast is no exception. In recent years, The Kapiti MTB Club (KMBC) has been active building new mountain-bike tracks in Whareroa Farm on the Kapiti Coast side of the Akatarawa Forest, with funding support from the Backcountry Trust and the Kaimahi for Nature Fund (KFN).
 
In 2020, stage one work on a track provisionally called ‘Track 2’ was begun, and late in 2021, the track was informally opened to riders.

The Big River area (near the West Coast town of Reefton) is rich in gold-mining history, and offers a wide variety of opportunities for 4WDing, mountain-biking, horse-riding and of course tramping. Notable among these are the tracks in the Big River-Waiuta area.
 
Waiuta was a mining town that saw mining activity as late as the 1950s, while during the Big River era (1882-1942) as many as 100 people worked the vicinity. A track connecting the two was recently upgraded through a Jobs for Nature project.

Two weeks of fine weather in November allowed a team of Greymouth DOC staff and Backcountry Trust contractors to polish off a long-standing bit of much-needed track work. This was one of those frustrating projects that had suffered weather delays so many times that the original start date is lost in the mists of time.

Fixing this particular track to a good, usable standard will benefit a multitude of different user groups.
 Thanks to the Jobs for Nature funding, the DOC staff and BCT contractors, another great joint project is complete – more to come soon!

​Yankee River Hut, situated beside a tidal estuary alongside the Yankee River, is one of the older huts on Rakiura’s North West Circuit. The hut is an example of a larger NZFS design, built primarily for recreation, and it has 12 bunks in two rooms. The other remaining one on the North West Circuit is Big Bungaree Hut. DOC is trying to retain both these facilities as historic to preserve their character.
 
Another example is the Kiwi Burn Hut in the Mavora Valley, adjacent to Fiordland.

In March 2021, an inspection revealed that Yankee River Hut needed some serious attention. Working with DOC Rakiura staff, the Backcountry Trust developed a two-stage plan to upgrade the hut.

​East Ruggedy Hut is one of the best-situated huts on Rakiura’s famous Northwest Circuit. This 8-10 day trip offers sometimes challenging tramping in bush, along coastlines, and with a healthy dose of old-fashioned mud. Rewards include the rare chance to tramp for days along a rugged, natural coastline, to appreciate the bush and coastal birds, and the pleasure of staying at some of best coastal huts in the country. East Ruggedy Hut is set back from the dunes of East Ruggedy Beach, against a backdrop of gnarled rimu. However, as for many other huts along the circuit, local rangers have struggled to find the funds for regular maintenance of the facility. Happily, Kaimahi for Nature (Jobs for Nature) funding came available through a Backcountry Trust-generated application, and November was the time for some hard mahi on site.

​The BCT Golden Bay track team hit the hills again, teaming up with DOC staff to do the four-yearly scub-cut and windfall run on the Anatoki–Waingaro Track. Both neighbouring track sections have been cut in the last two years, so completing this work will bring the whole circuit up to a consistent standard. 

​The Wainui Track follows the Pikikirunga Range in the interior of Abel Tasman National Park, beginning from Birds Clearing at the end of Bird Road, and climbing through forest past Wainui Hut to Wainui Saddle and Canaan Downs. Thanks to a keen group of willing local bushwhackers, funded by a Kaimahi for Nature grant, the Wainui Track got the ‘proverbial short back and sides’ recently, as the team reported:

One of the more beautiful valleys on the eastern side of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana / the Southern Alps is the Huxley, a major tributary of the Hopkins River, near Lake Ōhau.
 
On a pleasant, open grassy flat at the junction of the two main branches is Huxley Forks, with two huts. The first (smaller) hut was built for deer cullers in 1955. The New Zealand Forest Service built a second hut at Huxley Forks Hut in 1970, sometimes known as the ‘main Huxley Forks Hut’ (8 bunks). Just over 10 years ago, DOC did a major renovation of the exterior, but unfortunately the funding was unavailable to finish the interior.

​Big Hellfire and Long Harry are huts located on Rakiura’s Northwest Circuit, a week-long plus tramping track around the coastline of this part of Stewart Island.

​Late in March 2021, BCT contractors Clint Jarvis and Paul Chinn worked with DOC ranger Andrew King and volunteers from the Winton Rotary Club to carry out work on both these huts. The work was funded by a Kaimahi for Nature grant.

​Few of our country’s tracks have as long a history as the Matemateāonga Walkway. Crossing from the rugged hill country of eastern Taranaki, the 42km track traverses the Matemateāonga Range to end on the banks of the Whanganui River. For centuries the area has been used and traversed by Māori, who developed the first track along the range. Then, during the early part of the twentieth century, attempts were made to develop a dray road between Stratford and Raetihi, and to open the area for farming. World War One interrupted, but some progress continued until the 1930s Depression saw farming and roading in the area largely abandoned. During the 1970s and 1980s, the old road route was developed into a tramping track as part of the walkways movement, when most of the existing 4 huts were also built. In 1986 much of the track became part of Whanganui National Park.

Occupying a fine basin on the Travers Range, Cupola Hut is arguably the best situated hut in Nelson Lakes National Park. The hut offers a spectacular view of Mt Hopeless to the north, while a short distance above the hut, the dominant dome of Mt Cupola fills the horizon. The hut is reached on a good track from the Travers Valley, and has bunk space for 8. Mountaineers often use it as a base to climb the surrounding peaks, while trampers most often visit as side-trip from the Travers Valley. Recently, the hut got a makeover in a combined effort by the Ultimate Descents team and DOC, funded by Kaimahi for Nature.