​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.

In late February, the BCT sent local builder, Joe Eagles, and his team of two into Hinerua Hut. This job was funded using Kaimahi for Nature (KFN), a programme designed to keep people in work on jobs involving our conservation estate and its care.

​Last year the Backcountry Trust engaged Hiking NZ, whose guides had lost most of their work due to Covid-19 tourism downturn, to undertake several much-needed track maintenance projects in the Nelson conservancy. Funding came from the Government’s Kaimahi for Nature programme.

​Built in the early 1960s as one of the early Nelson versions of the S70 NZFS hut designs, Begley Hut lies in one of the idyllic, rarely visited valleys off the Rainbow Road adjacent to Nelson Lakes National Park.

​Because of it spectacular location on open flats with views of the surrounding Raglan Ranges, a visit to Lees Creek Hut is definitely worth putting on your bucket list. The comfortable 4-bunk hut is reached on a fairy gentle 4-5-hour walk up Lees Creek, a tributary of the upper Wairau River, accessible on the Rainbow Road, off SH63, near St Arnaud.

​In 2014, Cyclone Ita badly damaged the western side of the Wangapeka Track, causing significant windfall and slips.  At the time there was insufficient funding to fix the track, so it was downgraded to ‘route’ status west of Wangapeka Saddle.

Anyone who has visited Bobs Hut usually develops quite an affection for the place, not just because of the spectacular location, but also for the historic nature of the hut. Bobs Hut nestles against beech forest, at the edge of an extensive river flat in the West Matakitaki Valley, while above rise the summits of the Spenser Mountains and Mt Maling. Facing north, Bobs get a considerable amount of sun, adding to its appeal.