New Powell Hut to keep Kiwis in touch with their outdoor heritage

Wednesday, 10 July 2019

Writer, photographer and tramper Shaun Barnett says New Zealand's network of huts is unique and reflects the county's relationship with the back country. (First published July 2019)

Tararua Forest Park's most popular hut reopened on Friday following a months long demolition and rebuild.

The Department of Conservation closed the last incarnation of Powell Hut late last year after the structure - which was built in 2000 - was found to have weather tightness issues.

The hut has been rebuilt a number of times since the original structure was built by the Hutt Valley Tramping Club in 1937 on Mt Holdsworth at an altitude of 1200 metres.

Powell Hut in Tararua Forest Park has been completely rebuilt after the old hut, built in 2000, was found to have weather-tightness issues.

Doc senior service designer Brian Dobbie said the budget for the new 32-bunk hut was about $1 million but the total spend could be as low as $900,000.

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Backcountry historian, writer and photographer Shaun Barnett at Brass Monkey Hut, Lake Summner Forest Park.

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Sylvester Hut, Kahurangi National Park. There are anywhere from 950 to 1000 huts in New Zealand's hut network.

The hut attracts about 3000 stays a year from trampers.

Jean Hut, Whakaari Conservation Area, Otago. Hut design varies widely in size, shape and materials used.

Craig Benbow is the chairman of the Backcountry Trust, a hut and track maintenance charity funded by Doc.

He said Powell was a good introductory hut for new trampers as it was comfortable and relatively accessible. The Backcountry Trust supported any investment which encouraged people to experience the outdoors.

Syme Hut and Mt Taranaki at sunrise. New Zealand's changeable and, at times extreme, weather means shelter is necessary for people venturing into the backcountry.

Benbow said the ongoing maintenance of New Zealand's public hut network kept the potentially lifesaving shelters in good order and preserved them as structures of historic value.

Backcountry historian Shaun Barnett said New Zealand's public hut network was unique and reflected the relationship Kiwis had with the outdoors.

Trampers venturing above the bushline on Mt Holdsworth clock about 3000 nights a year at Powell Hut. (file photo of replaced hut)

He said some of Doc's oldest huts were built in the 1860s, but the majority of the country's public huts were built from the 1950s onwards when the New Zealand Forest Service built about 640 huts as deer culling bases over a 15 year period.

Trampers started using the huts almost immediately and solidified the concept of the public hut in the national consciousness.

Huts were a once common style of shelter in New Zealand that now only existed in the backcountry, Barnett said.

They were necessary in New Zealand's 'tempestuous' weather and designs varied dramatically - from tin-walled shelters, to stone cottages, to modern double-glazed lodges.

While the number of Doc huts was debated - different sources claim between 950 to 1000 - the network was unrivalled anywhere in the world, he said. Huts could be found in the far north and on New Zealand's subantarctic islands.

Dobbie said the bulk of hut maintenance was carried out by Doc, however there was an army of volunteers who looked after the more remote huts.

Benbow said there were hundreds of volunteers nationwide who had logged about 40,000 hours on the trust's projects, though the actual amount of time was likely 'much higher'.

The Backcountry Trust began life as the Outdoor Recreation Consortium in 2014 and has since spent $622,000 maintaining huts.

Dobbie was unable to say how much Doc spent on huts each year as funding was allocated to 'destinations' rather than specific pieces of infrastructure.