[Wayne]

Hi all

As mentioned some months ago on this forums page and elsewhere, DoC have come up with a series of proposals as to how to spend the $349m that was allocated to them in the 2002 Budget for huts, tracks and other facilities over the next 10 years.

These proposals can be viewed on the DoC website:
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/DOC-Recreation-Opportunities-Review/My-Favourite-Place/index.asp

There is quite an extensive list of proposals from upgrading a specific pit toilet to building new tracks/huts and removing others. Ive looked thru all of the proposals in each conservancy (there seem to be hundreds of them..). The most topical issues that seem to arise are:

Northland Conservancy:

1. DoC is proposing 2 new huts in the Kauri Forests – sounds a good idea to me

2. Cape Brett – new hut proposed near lighthouse etc – good idea

Auckland Conservancy:
1. Great Barrier Island – 4 huts proposed – will allow a 2-5 day tramping trip. (Ive never tramped here – but it sounds like a good idea to me)

Tongariro/Taupo Conservancy:
1. There is at present fuel being supplied to Omarau and Waipakihi huts but hut fees are at the standard facilities rate. DoC either want to put the fees up or remove the fuel supplies to the hut. I think the fuel should be removed – what do you think?

2. Ketetahi Hut is described as being in ‘poor condition’ and they are looking at options including relocation. Maybe if a new hut is eventually built it should be up higher nearer Blue Lake – what do you think? (is the hut really in ‘poor condition’?)

3. Dome Emergency Shelter – DoC are proposing to downsize this facility so that it does not provide an emergency shelter.. Seems a bit silly to me

4. DoC is proposing a new campsite at Whakaipo on Lake Taupo – this is a good idea as camping sites on Lake Taupo are limited

Bay of Plenty conservancy:
1. Changes are proposed to huts in the Kaimai Ranges – any views?

2. Mt Tarawera road – DoC is at present maintaining this road (so the tour operator can use it to take wealthy people up Mt Tarawera). Is this a good use of the taxpayers money? shouldnt the tour operator pay to maintain the road (from the fees that they charge for climbing mt tarawera?)

Wanganui Conservancy:
1. Some of those road end huts in the southern Ruahines are marked for removal. Any views?

Wellington Conservancy:
1. DoC are proposing to remove Dorset Ridge – think many club members are opposed to this? (think soem may argue New Tarn Ridge is a good substitute for this hut..)

2. Rimutaka’s – should we push for a swingbridge for the Orongorongo River (would one be possible? – this is not proposed by DOC but one club member suggested this – it would allow access at times of high flow)

Nelson/Marlborough Conservancy:
1. Hopeless Hut – is an avalanche area – DoC are looking at options. Think we should push strongly that a hut is retained in this area as its an important climbing area

2. Matiri Plateau (ie the 1000 acre plateau in Kahurangi National Park) – DoC are proposing to remove Larikins and Haystack huts and replace Poor Petes Hut. THink DoC want to make this more of a wilderness area – what do you think?

3. Queen Charolette Track – Doc are proposing to extend the track 4kms to Cannibal Cove in the north (excellent area). Any views?

4. Molesworth Station and the Kaikoras – think that DoC needs to rethink what facilities are offered in this area following the announcement by PM pre Xmas to establish a park in the Molesworth stn area (not sure of the park boundaries). Dont think there is enough proposed.

5. Campsites in the Sounds – DoC are proposing to close some of the basic campsites where there are no facilites and put better facilities in others eg Tawa Bay

6. Adelaide Tarn/Lonely Lake (in Kahurangi Nat Park). DoC are proposing to maintain these huts but not replace. THey are seeking public views as to whether huts should be remove now to enhance the wilderness experience

7. Flora Hut (in Kahurangi Hut). DoC are seeking views as to what should be done with this facility

8. Wangapeka Track Huts – DoC wants huts to be 3/4 huts apart – means Stone and Helicopter huts will be removed and new hut at Saddle constrcuted.

West Coast conservancy
1. There are a number of huts where DoC are proposing minimal maintenance for the remaining life of the huts (and then its goodbye..)

Southland Conservancy
1. Masons and Port William huts are going to be enlarged/replaced by bigger huts. Should Freshwater Landing also be enlarged?

I would be interested in any feedback on the above issues or anything else that DoC have proposed – so far i have received comments from Grant N. Can you post any comments on this website only. There are 990 huts in NZ at present and about 12,000km of track so its hard to be able to comment on everything or know about the impacts of all the suggestions.

DoC are after submissions by 31 Jan – so please any coments need to be made a few days in advance so i can put together a coordinated club response and run it past the committee

thanks
Wayne Stevens
Pres

[Allan Mac]

I’ve just had a brief squizz over the Northland and Auckland stuff. Some improvements to campsites which will be good for kayaking. The proposed hut on the Cape Brett Walkway is at Deep Water Cove, not near the Cape Brett Lighthouse. I haven’t tramped there, only kayaked out there 2x, I hear from trampers that have done the walk that it is a fair haul out to the lighthouse. Wayne, you may remember some trampers camping there with us when we went out there last summer. This would perhaps make the trip easier as a 1.5 day walk with a boat trip back – a good idea.
Gt Barrier Is is a great summer tramping destination. More for the medium or easy types, and a few huts may get people out there. I went tramping there a few years ago over Auckland Anniversary w/e – sweet memories of swimming at the beach and some nice swimming holes in the rivers as well.

Tongariro/Taupo:
I agree, take the fuel out of the huts at Waipakihi and Omarau.

I understood DoC’s concern over Dome Shelter was that people use that as a destination when it is intended only as an emergency shelter. Having the shelter up there encourages people up to a fairly exposed area and perhaps gives a false sense of security. I’m not sure of the logic here, but Dome is a pretty grim place, I’m sure I’d rather head down to NZAC’s Whangeahu Hut or back towards Whakapapa if the weather turned to s*** while I am up there.

my 2c

[Craig]

The Barrier suggestions make a lot of sense. The existing hut is less than hour in from Fitzroy. Another a similar distance in, was burned down a few years ago. The only way to do any tramping there at the moment is to carry a tent. The suggestions would link a lot of the tracks together and save either walking or hitching along the road.

I’m interested in the fact that they are considering Awana Camp however, it is fairly heavily used over summer in what would appear to be a major preference to the private operator that is significantly futher from the beach. I was on the Barrier this Christmas more than one party told me they had moved to the DoC camp at Harotaonga because the private camp ground at Awana was ‘dodgy’. The DoC camp at Awana was relatively full at the time.

The DoC camp at Awana is nearer the beach, but it does not have any shade or shelter what-so-ever, so some planting should occur if it is to remain. The same can be said about the Whangpoua campground near Okiwi.

As for the Ketetahi Hut. It looked in great nick when I passed through a year ago. The problem is the non-charged over usage by the masses whom walk the Tongariro Crossing. It needs to be relocated further away from the track to discourage day users impacting too heavily on overnight stayers. Toilets for day users would need to stay at the present location!

A free 2c worth from a non-WTMC member.

[Lee-Ann]

Wayne Stewart Is/Rakiura…
Mason bay – support enlargement as this hut has visitor demand form 2 circuits and the hut plan for sleeping is good but the communla area is very small and cooknig is very much a hazard.
Fresh water landing is much the same..while it sleeps a reasonable nubmer the communal kitchen area is a bit of a hazard especially as this hut is used for those waiting to be boated out..hut further along track for thos ewho wlak the entire circuit are fine.

Ketetahi in poor condition? Unless winter this year did damage looked good last time I took a group in there. Once again a hut that is used by day walkers as well as overnight stays so facilities need ot reflect that. Moving back probalby isnt a bad idea.

Tarawera road..would support DOC not paying for road mainteneace as the operator doesnt not even allow a smaller charge for “self walk” options. You pay the full fare if you drive up and can walk with a guide. Forestry? pays and maintains a public road that accesses the mountain from the otherside so the operator does have access anyway if required…just probably means access to the Rotorua tourists isnt as accessible.

[Harry]

A few comments:

Omarau / Waipakihi huts – I’d rather see the fuel supplies removed than the hut fees go up. But if DoC has received millions of dollars to spend on for huts and other facilities, I don’t see why keeping the status quo isn’t also an option, i.e. keeping the fuel and not putting the hut fees up, and to hell with whether it is an “error”!! OK, I don’t think this is going to happen, but I personally think that it would be a better use of money than some of their proposals to waste money pulling down and replacing perfectly good huts.

Ketetahi Hut – I didn’t think this was in poor condition last time I was there. Saying it is in poor condition just seems to reflect DoC’s preference for flash modern mansions over perfectly good older huts.
I would hate to see a replacement hut built higher up the mountain nearer Blue Lake as you suggest. The top of Tongariro should be kept free of any more development. I can’t personally see anything wrong with the status quo (i.e. retaining the current hut where it is), but if a replacement hut was to be built I think it would actually be better lower down, near the bush edge (although in fact in the case of Ketetahi I think a good case could actually be made for removing the hut altogether).

They are also proposing to replace Waiohono Hut. Again, this just seems like a pointless waste of money to me. It was in perfectly fine condition last time I was there.

Dome Shelter – as you say, down-sizing this just seems silly. Why waste money down-sizing a perfectly good shelter? It’s not as if it is going to restore the area to a wilderness state since they are still going to have a hut of some description there for the scientific instruments anyway, and I would have thought retaining an emergency shelter there was fully justified on safety grounds. It’s also useful as a dayshelter – lots of people climb up to the Dome as a day walk from the Wakapapa skifield and the conditions up on top are often a lot colder and windier than down on the skifield.

I get the impression that the real reason they want to down-size it is because – horrors!! – some people may currently be deliberately staying there overnight, rather than it just being used for emergencies, but if that is the case, so what? It’s not actually doing anybody any harm. (If this is their real reason then it reminds me of H L Mencken’s famous definition of puritanism as the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be having a good time.)

Whakaipo campsite – I don’t actually know where this is, but a new campsite seems like a good idea to me – as long as it is a basic sort of campsite, not something over-developed. (However, I note that they say that it is already used by informal campers, so the cynic in me wonders whether this is just a proposal to turn it into a “formal” campsite so that they can start making money out of it.)

Mt Tarawera road – I definitely don’t think DoC should be maintaining the road just so it can be used by the private owners to charge rich foreign tourists to go on expensive guided tours over the mountain. Instead, I think a good case could be made for DoC to put the money into cutting a new track across the public land at the base of the mountain connecting the north-east and southeast corners of the lake, thus restoring the opportunity for an overnight tramping trip around lakes Okaitaina and Tarawera that used to exist before the private owners closed off access to the top of the mountain.

Dorset Ridge Hut – I wouldn’t want to see this removed. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it, is there?, and it provides a nice target destination for people who want to get into a more remote part of the park.

Rimutuka bridge – I wouldn’t have thought this was technically feasible, given the width of the river bed, and I don’t think it’s necessary anyway. It doesn’t seem very common for the river to be uncrossible (I’ve personally never seen it up) and if it is, it’s always possible to get out if necessary by following the four wheel drive road out to the bridge at the mouth.

Tararua Tracks – there seem to be lots of proposals to upgrade some Tararua tracks (generally the more accessable ones) “to standard”, while doing minimum maintenance on others (the more remote ones). I think this is a worry, especially seeing that one of the ones being proposed to be “upgraded to standard” is the track up to Powell, which I would have thought was a pretty high standard already. I would hate to see some of these tracks turned into benched, graded, gravelled, paved, bridged tourist tracks, while all the others are allowed to overgrow completely. I think what we should be aiming for is keeping a network of basic tramping tracks – maintained to the extent of ensuring they are followable, removing windfalls etc, but not turned into super-highways.

Similarly with Tararua huts – I’d like to see the network of older huts retained (and maintained at a basic but adequate level – see Robert Cross’s article about the removal of the stove at Arete Forks in last Saturday’s paper), rather than being replaced by a smaller number of large Lockwood mansions.

Hopeless Hut – I agree we should push to keep a hut in the area (and I wonder just how much avalanche risk the current hut is really under – has it ever suffered any damage in the time it has been there? DoC seem paranoid about removing any possible risk, e.g. with the perfectly good Totara Flats hut that they have recently pulled down, whereas I think we should be willing to accept such risks when they are relatively small. )

Matiri – I’d hate to see Poor Pete’s Hut removed or replaced! It’s got character! Similarly with Larikins – it’s a nice little nut in a nice location, and it seems silly to waste money going and removing it.

Kaikouras – I’d like to see the exisiting remote, undeveloped nature of this maintained as much as possible, particularly the Seaward Kaikouras and the Clarence Valley. This is brilliant, large, remote wilderness area within relatively easy reach of Wellington and I wouldn’t like to see it over-developed.

Other suggestions:
I’d like to see some more wind shelter belts planted at the Pinnacles campsite in the Haurangis.

Going beyond the issue of facilities such as huts and tracks, I wonder whether DoC should look at investing some of their money in maintaining or securing public access to some places. I’m thinking particularly here about the private land in the central Kaiwanawas, but it could also apply in other places, e.g. Mt Tarawera. Maybe DoC could pay the owners some kind of annual rental in exchange for allowing public access to the land, or at least access along specified tracks and routes. I supose the problem with this idea is that it would set a precedent which could encourage other landowners to deny access in other areas, particularly the South Island high country.

[Grant Newton]

I thought Mr H Smith was retired from tramping?

I thought he would be proposing money be spent on bulldozers to flatten the Tararuas ….. then they could then use the old forest service 6-bunk huts to build a retirement village for retired trampers on the flat land! They could also resurrrect the Duchess to provide a transport service to Wellington for the occupants when events such as the film festival are on!

[Harry]

Bulldoze flat the Tararuas! Now we’re talking! Just so long as they leave the 6 bunk Forest Service huts intact. These huts are by far my favourite design of hut, the best huts there have ever been, and they should be retained whereever possible.

[Author]

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