Kakapo Hut
Maintenance Status
In 2004 the Department of Conservation announced that they would no longer be maintaining Kakapo Hut. After a local protest they backtracked, but by 2012 still hadn't done anything. Jason Campbell of Permolat who worked for DOC lobbied them to support a volunteer project which took place in 2013. DOC supplied the materials and Jason and his friends did the work for free. In 2022 the Back Country Trust used some of its Kaimahi for Nature funds to fly in an Ultimate Descents team to re-roof and seal the Hut.
Hut access had also suffered with zero official maintenance over the preceding decades. By the early 2000s the routes into the valley had overgrown, been buried in cyclone damage, or simply vanished. Visits to Kakapo Hut were mostly fly ins, with foot visits few and far between. In 2020 Louisa Hines and Hayden Miller did some work on the section from the Little Wanganui valley to Lawrence Saddle. Andrew Barker of Permolat followed up and between 2021 and 2024 made several trips alone or with others to finish this off. Following this he reinstated the route from the Kakapo over Kakapo Saddle to the Taipo valley. All of these tracks cross challenging terrain and are reliant on volunteer labour to stay open.
Location
Karamea Catchment. Grid Ref: E1541722/ N5424106 (BQ23 417 241). Topo Map BQ23. Altitude 360m. Kakapo Hut is located in Kahurangi National Park midway up the TL of the Kakapo River, a major tributary of the Karamea River. The Kakapo is a medium sized river and the terrain it passes through is rugged and beautiful. The forest on the valley floor is predominantly beech, rough underfoot with moss covered boulders and old overgrowing earthquake slips. Karamea Hut was averaging around one visit per year during the 1990s and early 2000s due to its remoteness and lack of extant tracks. There was brief surge in 2009 when six parties passed through. From 2013 to 22 visits were limited to DOC predator control workers and the odd tramping group. Another surge of interest followed Andrew's work and its online profiling. 2022 saw 15 non-DOC visits and between June '23 and July '24 there were 10 visits. I say non-DOC visits because while the Department has very little to spend on track and hut maintenance it seems to have enough dosh to fly biodiversity workers in every couple of weeks. The plus side of this is a very healthy bird population around the Hut comprising; robins, weka, kaka, whio, and kiwi.
In 2004 the Department of Conservation announced that they would no longer be maintaining Kakapo Hut. After a local protest they backtracked, but by 2012 still hadn't done anything. Jason Campbell of Permolat who worked for DOC lobbied them to support a volunteer project which took place in 2013. DOC supplied the materials and Jason and his friends did the work for free. In 2022 the Back Country Trust used some of its Kaimahi for Nature funds to fly in an Ultimate Descents team to re-roof and seal the Hut.
Hut access had also suffered with zero official maintenance over the preceding decades. By the early 2000s the routes into the valley had overgrown, been buried in cyclone damage, or simply vanished. Visits to Kakapo Hut were mostly fly ins, with foot visits few and far between. In 2020 Louisa Hines and Hayden Miller did some work on the section from the Little Wanganui valley to Lawrence Saddle. Andrew Barker of Permolat followed up and between 2021 and 2024 made several trips alone or with others to finish this off. Following this he reinstated the route from the Kakapo over Kakapo Saddle to the Taipo valley. All of these tracks cross challenging terrain and are reliant on volunteer labour to stay open.
Location
Karamea Catchment. Grid Ref: E1541722/ N5424106 (BQ23 417 241). Topo Map BQ23. Altitude 360m. Kakapo Hut is located in Kahurangi National Park midway up the TL of the Kakapo River, a major tributary of the Karamea River. The Kakapo is a medium sized river and the terrain it passes through is rugged and beautiful. The forest on the valley floor is predominantly beech, rough underfoot with moss covered boulders and old overgrowing earthquake slips. Karamea Hut was averaging around one visit per year during the 1990s and early 2000s due to its remoteness and lack of extant tracks. There was brief surge in 2009 when six parties passed through. From 2013 to 22 visits were limited to DOC predator control workers and the odd tramping group. Another surge of interest followed Andrew's work and its online profiling. 2022 saw 15 non-DOC visits and between June '23 and July '24 there were 10 visits. I say non-DOC visits because while the Department has very little to spend on track and hut maintenance it seems to have enough dosh to fly biodiversity workers in every couple of weeks. The plus side of this is a very healthy bird population around the Hut comprising; robins, weka, kaka, whio, and kiwi.
Access
The track to the Kakapo valley from the Little Wanganui is marked as a route on NZ topo maps. It starts at the old Belltown-Manunui hut site and heads up the TL of Drain Creek for a bit, then veers up a small, unmarked side-branch. The track climbs to around the 550m contour, sidles, and then drops 100 vertical metres into the upper branches of Lawrence Stream. From here there is an undulating sidle around to a bush saddle 100m SE of Lawrence Saddle. The track drops from here into the TL branch of Bellbird Stream entering the creekbed just above its confluence with the TR branch. It crosses the TL branch and cuts through a marshy area into the TR branch which is followed for a half kilometre to where the track exits at a prominent bend. A section of forest is traversed to the western end of an open swampy area which is crossed to the track start at its eastern end. A steep climb follows up to the unnamed saddle overlooking the Kakapo River from where track drops diagonally across some regenerating screes. There is a short steep climb onto an adjacent ridge from where a series of descents and sidles down through rough and rubbly terrain lead to a combined DOC trapline/ track at E1540779/ N5425767. This is marked with pink triangles and permolat and can be followed the remaining 2kms to Kakapo Hut. Parties seem to be averaging 6½ -8 hours to get from Belltown-Manunui Hut to Kakapo Hut.
The track to the Kakapo valley from the Little Wanganui is marked as a route on NZ topo maps. It starts at the old Belltown-Manunui hut site and heads up the TL of Drain Creek for a bit, then veers up a small, unmarked side-branch. The track climbs to around the 550m contour, sidles, and then drops 100 vertical metres into the upper branches of Lawrence Stream. From here there is an undulating sidle around to a bush saddle 100m SE of Lawrence Saddle. The track drops from here into the TL branch of Bellbird Stream entering the creekbed just above its confluence with the TR branch. It crosses the TL branch and cuts through a marshy area into the TR branch which is followed for a half kilometre to where the track exits at a prominent bend. A section of forest is traversed to the western end of an open swampy area which is crossed to the track start at its eastern end. A steep climb follows up to the unnamed saddle overlooking the Kakapo River from where track drops diagonally across some regenerating screes. There is a short steep climb onto an adjacent ridge from where a series of descents and sidles down through rough and rubbly terrain lead to a combined DOC trapline/ track at E1540779/ N5425767. This is marked with pink triangles and permolat and can be followed the remaining 2kms to Kakapo Hut. Parties seem to be averaging 6½ -8 hours to get from Belltown-Manunui Hut to Kakapo Hut.
The other route to Kakapo Hut is from the Taipo valley via Kakapo Saddle. An old track up to the Saddle starting behind the Herbert Creek sign was recut and marked by Andrew in November 2022. From the Saddle the track drops in a NW direction along a bench above some bluffs, then descends diagonally towards the valley floor. It crosses the bottom end of the big earthquake slip marked on the map and intersects the Kakapo riverbed at E1543860/ N5419710. In 2024 Andrew added sections of track from here to the start of a DOC trapline at E1543067/ N5421940 and in August to finish things off he permolatted the trapline. which is followed for around an hour to the Hut. This completes the entire Little Wanganui - Taipo circuit and is an amazing effort on Andrew's part, most of which he has done as a solo project. Allow six plus hours to Kakapo from the Drain Creek turnoff and five hours from the Herbert Creek turnoff.
There is a helipad in front of the Hut.
There is a helipad in front of the Hut.
Refurbished Hut interior 2022
Type: Kakapo Hut was an unlined four-bunker with an open fire and two, paned windows. It was built in 1958 by the New Zealand Forest Service Nelson, a design that predated the S81 four-bunk design that later became the standard template. Of the small number of this type built only Kakapo and Johnson Hut in the Mokihinui catchment are left. Building materials were transported in one of the earliest helicopter flights by the NZFS (the first was Luna Hut). The Hut's door has the names of some of the early cullers and trampers inscribed on it. DOC wasn't able to fork out for hut repairs but did install a new long drop toilet at the site. The chimney smokes quite badly unless the main window is wide open possibly due to the chimney cap which was a later addition to stop rain entering.
Condition
Kakapo Hut is in very good condition now. In 2013 Jason's crew repainted the exterior, replaced the rusted chimney guttering, patched the chimney's rust holes, and replaced and painted the rotten window framing. A new hearth surround was constructed and wall studs, rotting floorboard sections, a pile and a bearer were replaced. The historic features such as names and old carved graffiti were left untouched. In March 2022 Pete Sinclair, Pete Braggins, and Marc Lesaicherre re-roofed the Hut, tidied up and lined some of the inside, and built a woodshed. In January 2023 a DOC team cut back some of the smaller regrowth around the front of the Hut. There is one very small damp patch on the hut floor in the SE corner and a fair amount of mouse shit. There are a few poison blocks on site still. There is a screw missing from the window hinge. A couple of small SS screws will do the job if someone wants to do that for us.
Condition
Kakapo Hut is in very good condition now. In 2013 Jason's crew repainted the exterior, replaced the rusted chimney guttering, patched the chimney's rust holes, and replaced and painted the rotten window framing. A new hearth surround was constructed and wall studs, rotting floorboard sections, a pile and a bearer were replaced. The historic features such as names and old carved graffiti were left untouched. In March 2022 Pete Sinclair, Pete Braggins, and Marc Lesaicherre re-roofed the Hut, tidied up and lined some of the inside, and built a woodshed. In January 2023 a DOC team cut back some of the smaller regrowth around the front of the Hut. There is one very small damp patch on the hut floor in the SE corner and a fair amount of mouse shit. There are a few poison blocks on site still. There is a screw missing from the window hinge. A couple of small SS screws will do the job if someone wants to do that for us.
The Kakapo River: Photo Nina Dickerhof
Routes
The DOC predator line on the TL can be followed some distance downriver from Hut. A couple of parties have mentioned a route out from the lower valley over Mt Stormy. The track down from the summit to Karamea has been abandoned by DOC but is still followable.
There is mention in the hutbook at Greys Hut of an old track up the TL of the Karamea from the Kakapo confluence to opposite Greys (the book goes back to 1987). This would not have been maintained since the 1970's and there is no recent information on hand concerning this.
The Kakapo hutbook mentions a route up to Twenty Four Tarn Basin which sounds like a bit of a mission if you get it wrong. A party descending from the basin took 12 hours to get down after getting into trouble in a ravine or two. Other parties have described routes up to the Black Lakes from where it looks to be easy travel around to Little Wanganui Saddle.
Repairs needed.
No major ones currently. Might be worth checking what is causing that damp patch if someone is there during a wet spell.
Provisions on site
A broom, a dustpan and brush, three shovels, a crowbar, a bow saw, some plastic pails, an aluminium bucket, a camp oven, a small pot, a plastic basin, and an axe.
The DOC predator line on the TL can be followed some distance downriver from Hut. A couple of parties have mentioned a route out from the lower valley over Mt Stormy. The track down from the summit to Karamea has been abandoned by DOC but is still followable.
There is mention in the hutbook at Greys Hut of an old track up the TL of the Karamea from the Kakapo confluence to opposite Greys (the book goes back to 1987). This would not have been maintained since the 1970's and there is no recent information on hand concerning this.
The Kakapo hutbook mentions a route up to Twenty Four Tarn Basin which sounds like a bit of a mission if you get it wrong. A party descending from the basin took 12 hours to get down after getting into trouble in a ravine or two. Other parties have described routes up to the Black Lakes from where it looks to be easy travel around to Little Wanganui Saddle.
Repairs needed.
No major ones currently. Might be worth checking what is causing that damp patch if someone is there during a wet spell.
Provisions on site
A broom, a dustpan and brush, three shovels, a crowbar, a bow saw, some plastic pails, an aluminium bucket, a camp oven, a small pot, a plastic basin, and an axe.
