[Gareth]

Shaun Barnett will be talking at club next Wednesday 31st July about the making of his book “Shelter From The Storm: the story of NZ’s back-country huts” so please come along to listen to this talk and ask any questions. The book sells at a retail price of $80, though will be available on the night at just $64 and can be personally signed by Shaun. Shaun Barnett is a professional photographer and author and is responsible for most of the scenic landscape photos which appear in Wilderness magazine.

This hardback book weighs 2.72kg and contains 364 pages.

One of the defining and unique features of the New Zealand outdoors is the backcountry hut. New Zealand has a remarkably diverse network of these huts, unparalleled anywhere else in the world, and for those who venture into our wild places there is often a passionate attachment to these humble structures.

Shelter from the Storm is a landmark publication, the first wide-ranging history of our hut network. The authors provide an overview of who built the huts – tramping and mountaineering clubs, the Department of Internal Affairs, Lands and Survey, New Zealand Forest Service, Park Boards and DOC – as well as why they were built, which includes farming, mining, tourism, tramping and climbing, hunting and deer culling, science and as monuments. For each of these sections the authors profile a wide range of representative huts, and recount the fascinating stories that invariably surround them.

This is a wonderful book, meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated with a huge range of historic and contemporary photographs. Its significance and appeal is far-reaching, as this is a subject that has a genuine resonance with many, many New Zealanders.

[Author]

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