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Kaweka Forest Park, Hawke’s Bay – completed March 2024 Five trips between November 2022 and March 2024 Since the early 1960s Komata, also known as Comet Hut, sat at the end of Comet Road off the Gentle Annie highway, which crosses the southern Kaweka Range from Taihape to Hawke’s Bay. It was built mainly for hunters and forestry workers, and more recently subject to the abuse and vandalism often, sadly, meted out to remote road end huts. It needed help or, better still, moving to a safer site. The Wāhine Job, as this project became known because of the all-women crew that took it on, started out as a simple relocation of the hut to a flat beside the Ngaruroro River. It would be a base for rafting, hunting, fishing and pest control, on an already popular rafting campsite. Plans to shift the hut in one go were shelved when the large helicopter required became unavailable. As well, some structural parts of the vandalised hut were beyond repair. The project evolved to one of deconstruction followed by re-assembly, as in pretty much a new-build. On the positive side, the bigger project enabled more learning opportunities for the wāhine volunteers, under the guidance of BCT Project Manager, Megan Dimozantos.  Komata Hut and all wāhine team. Photo Deanna Gerlach There was an added complication. The planned riverside relocation site was rejected by Geotech engineers, who preferred a kanuka-covered terrace 30 metres above the river. Now the women had to clear the tall, chain-blunting kanuka to make room for the hut. Four went in for several days of hard yakka (leaving a massive firewood supply for future hut users). Weeks later, rain from Cyclone Gabrielle inundated the lower flat! Next, a team of four flew into install the hut foundations. Emma Martindale recalls digging holes through rocks and tree roots, the grimy work of concreting the piles, then learning new skills like how to use a nail gun safely, and calculate Pythagoras’s theorem to set rectangles. A new access track also needed opening up from Komata Trig, diverting off the Shutes Hut track near the Comet roadend. The new track descends 800m down a toe-crushingly steep face that’s covered with thick, tangled native regeneration. Clearing it took days longer than expected, involving much more lugging of chainsaw, fuel, loppers and camping gear than planned, with the work spearheaded by Megan, Sarah Millar and Emma Martindale.  Breakfast briefing. Meanwhile, Cyclone Gabrielle put Komata on hold as other, more urgent repairs around storm-battered Hawke’s Bay were dealt with. The wāhine team made the most of the delay. Given that only the floor, framing, trusses and iron roofing was of any use from the old hut Gary MacDonald (AFM Building and the project’s licensed building practitioner) opened up his Napier workshop to the crew. With Gary’s mentoring, they built new framework and flatpack kits for the woodshed, toilet and tank stand and pre-painted the ply for the internal walls. Then came the big push – a mammoth, ten-day stint on site, in February 2024. Tents were squashed around the fringes of the tiny clearing that was also crammed with timber lengths, iron cladding, cement, paint, generator and a ‘kitchen/shelter’. Earlier, on Comet Road, re-usable bits from the old hut had been packaged up, and the floor braced ready for flying to the new site. There was a hold-the-breath moment, then celebration as pilot Joe Faram lowered the floor on a very long strop to fit perfectly onto the new foundations. Then followed ten days (and some nights) of labour: erecting framing, putting up building wrap then cladding, fitting trusses and windows, roofing (Coloursteel), veranda construction, wood shed construction (recycling roofing from the old hut), digging (the wharepaku hole and tank stand piles), Wagener woodfire installation, varnishing and painting (the bright, bold Dulux Mārahau and Moorhouse Street colours decided by consensus). Wānaka film maker, Deanna Gerlach, was on site to produce what became an award-winning documentary about the Komata Project, and Kathy Ombler popped in for three days to write about the project for NZ Wilderness magazine. Despite a massive effort the women ran just short of time to complete the job in February. In one final long weekend in March, nine wāhine returned to add the finishing touches. Five of them walked down the new track and completed the track marking. At the hut, the water tank and spouting were installed, bunks and cooking bench fitted and a table built. The floor was sanded, steps built for the deck, window trims and coat hooks added. As with all BCT volunteer projects, a varied bunch had come together on Komata, many of them juggling full time jobs and families to work on the remote site. The core team included Emma Martindale, Sarah Millar, Emma Sye, Sally Neal, Helen Payn, Yvette Cottam, Bella Wilson, Fuis Tumanako and Rachel Howells. And they’re not letting go of Komata any time soon. They’ve signed the Community Agreement, taking on responsibility for future hut and track maintenance. Benching the steep track down to the river is an early priority, along with pest control. “This project has been a huge labour of love for us, we’ve learned new skills and met other like-minded women and its special to be able to continue that,” says Sally Neal. There was significant support to help this wāhine team. Project sponsors included Tumu Building Supplies (now Placemakers), Dulux Paints, Pub Charities, Steel & Tube, Coloursteel, Kingspan-Thermakraft, Wagener fires and, of course, the Department of Conservation - Hawke's Bay. Also proving huge support were Gary Macdonald (AFM Building), Joe Faram from Rotorforce, and DOC’s Malcolm Lock (Locky). Comments are closed.
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