KIRWANS HUT

Victoria Forest Park, West Coast – March 2023

kirwans hut

​Kirwans Hut has a lot of charm.
 
Set in a small clearing near the bushline, the 12-bunk serviced hut affords a magnificent view along the length of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana/the Southern Alps as far as Aoraki/Mt Cook. It’s a sister hut to two others on the West Coast at Big Hut (also in Victoria Forest Park) and Ces Clarke Hut (on the Paparoa Range). All three were designed by a Wellington architect, and built by the Forest Service in the mid-1980s, near the end of its reign.
 
Recently the hut got some welcome attention, made possible through a grant from the Kaimahi for Nature (Jobs for Nature) programme, and orchestrated by the Backcountry Trust’s Ollie Clifton.

photographing the sunset from the kirwans hut clearing

Kirwans Hut had been leaking for a while through the flue, but was also in need of re-roofing. In March 2023, Ollie Clifton's Jobs for Nature team of Al Ritchie, Pete Sinclair and Vitek Kocandrle fitted a new roof, replaced the flue, built a new woodshed and carried out a number of other maintenance jobs. 

old roof off

​Thanks to Rob Hunt at Murchison Helicopters for transporting the crew and materials. And also to Ahaura Helicopters who generously delivered a missing item on a flight home from another job. That saved the day.

new roof on

​DOC Greymouth try to keep Kirwans Hut in tip-top shape, but recently staff have been overloaded with additional and unforeseen work caused by notable storms in the upper South Island during 2022. Weather bombs took out bridges on the Heaphy Track, caused flooding in Westport, and also damaged Kirwans Track. The track is still being assessed for repairs, and hopefully will soon get the funding needed to bring it back up to standard.

securing the new gutter

​A circuit, known as the Kirwans Track, has become an increasingly popular walking and mountain-biking destination for visitors to Reefton, so getting it restored is fairly critical for the local community.

beech forest, kirwans track Photo: shaun barnett

​Beginning from Capleston, the Kirwans Track links Kirwans Hut with another hut in the Montgomerie Valley. From there, it’s possible to finish the circuit back to Capleston using the route down the Waitahu Valley, or alternatively, to exit to Blacks Point via the Murray Creek Goldfields.

new flue and the view

new drainage pipe

​A compelling reason to visit is the area’s fascinating gold-mining history. Near Kirwans Hut is Kirwans Reward Mine, named after prospector William Kirwan who unearthed gold here in 1896. That led to a short-lived but profitable mine on this unlikely high mountaintop, with the ore in buckets transported down to the adjacent Montgomerie Valley by an ingenious gravity-fed cableway. Archaeologists, volunteers and DOC staff have restored some of the mining equipment left on site since the mine was abandoned in 1906.

abandoned trolley wheel, Montgomerie Valley, Kirwans track Photo: Shaun barnett