Mt Brown Hut
The old Lower Arahura Hut before its transformation - Photo Andrew Buglass
Maintenance Status
Mt Brown Hut is a community initiative undertaken by Eddie Newman and Julia Bradshaw of Hokitika. The Hut began its life as Lower Arahura Hut in the valley of the same name, where it spent its first 50 years. It was a standard NZFS 4-bunk S81 design, built in 1962. When the Department of Conservation decided to build a new Hut at the site in 2010, Eddie and Julia were able to convince them to fly the dismantled sections of the old hut out to be reassembled on Mt Brown. The project ended up becoming a total rebuild due to the plethora of building code and safety requirements that didn't exist in the 1960's when the Hut was built. Considerable community input, volunteer labour and donations made it possible for the project to reach fruition. The Permolat Group contributed financially and with volunteer input and the Hut was opened for public use in November 2010. It was an instant success, debuting in Wilderness Magazine, outdoor calendars, DOC posters, and the cover of "Shelter From The Storm," a book on high-country huts by Rob Brown, Geoff Spearpoint and Shaun Barnett. The Hut is now profiled on local tourist brochures and i-Sites and the majority of visitors are now foreign tourists or travellers.
In 2017 Eddie and Julia emigrated to Christchurch and delegated oversight of the Hut to the Permolat Trust. Hugh van Noorden took on the lead role for this and the Trust holds and administers donations for its maintenance. With only four bunks the Hut is often not able to house the large numbers turning up so do consider carrying a tent if you are heading up there. There had been 800 visits by late November 2023, 600 of which were overnighters. The long drop toilet system isn’t coping that well with the high use and we are onto our third toilet hole. Parts of the track are deteriorating, and flying coal up for the stove was stopped a couple of years back because it was being used up at an unrealistic rate. Although not the original vision, the Hut has effectively become a high-use facility and would probably be better served by DOC administering or servicing it. Another option on the table is for the Back Country Trust to take over management and DOC to run a booking system. Discussions are taking place along these lines.
Mt Brown Hut is still, for the time being, community maintained, and reliant on koha for its upkeep. Koha means a contribution, not just donate-if-you-feel-like-it. Sadly, only a tiny minority are contributing, and a significant number aren't logging their visit in the hutbook. Please be generous. Koha are payable to Permolat Trust, Kiwibank, 38-9016-0266330-00. Our Charities Registration No. is CC50626. Please specify that the money is for Mt Brown so we can earmark it for that purpose.
You can also visit the Hut at Facebook and Flickr.
Mt Brown Hut is a community initiative undertaken by Eddie Newman and Julia Bradshaw of Hokitika. The Hut began its life as Lower Arahura Hut in the valley of the same name, where it spent its first 50 years. It was a standard NZFS 4-bunk S81 design, built in 1962. When the Department of Conservation decided to build a new Hut at the site in 2010, Eddie and Julia were able to convince them to fly the dismantled sections of the old hut out to be reassembled on Mt Brown. The project ended up becoming a total rebuild due to the plethora of building code and safety requirements that didn't exist in the 1960's when the Hut was built. Considerable community input, volunteer labour and donations made it possible for the project to reach fruition. The Permolat Group contributed financially and with volunteer input and the Hut was opened for public use in November 2010. It was an instant success, debuting in Wilderness Magazine, outdoor calendars, DOC posters, and the cover of "Shelter From The Storm," a book on high-country huts by Rob Brown, Geoff Spearpoint and Shaun Barnett. The Hut is now profiled on local tourist brochures and i-Sites and the majority of visitors are now foreign tourists or travellers.
In 2017 Eddie and Julia emigrated to Christchurch and delegated oversight of the Hut to the Permolat Trust. Hugh van Noorden took on the lead role for this and the Trust holds and administers donations for its maintenance. With only four bunks the Hut is often not able to house the large numbers turning up so do consider carrying a tent if you are heading up there. There had been 800 visits by late November 2023, 600 of which were overnighters. The long drop toilet system isn’t coping that well with the high use and we are onto our third toilet hole. Parts of the track are deteriorating, and flying coal up for the stove was stopped a couple of years back because it was being used up at an unrealistic rate. Although not the original vision, the Hut has effectively become a high-use facility and would probably be better served by DOC administering or servicing it. Another option on the table is for the Back Country Trust to take over management and DOC to run a booking system. Discussions are taking place along these lines.
Mt Brown Hut is still, for the time being, community maintained, and reliant on koha for its upkeep. Koha means a contribution, not just donate-if-you-feel-like-it. Sadly, only a tiny minority are contributing, and a significant number aren't logging their visit in the hutbook. Please be generous. Koha are payable to Permolat Trust, Kiwibank, 38-9016-0266330-00. Our Charities Registration No. is CC50626. Please specify that the money is for Mt Brown so we can earmark it for that purpose.
You can also visit the Hut at Facebook and Flickr.
Location
Styx catchment. Map BV19. Grid Ref: E1452950/ N5252150 (BV19 530 522). Altitude 1120m. Mt Brown Hut is located above the bushline on the West ridge of Mt Brown, which is an outlier of the Newton Range. Access up to it is straightforward in most weather and on clear days there are fabulous views of the Southern Alps, Lake Kaniere, and the coastal plain.
Access
There are two routes up to the Hut providing an overnight loop for those interested. The most direct and frequently used is from Geologist Creek on the Dorothy Falls Road that goes around the back of Lake Kaniere. The track starts at a washed-out parking area on the South side of the Geologist Creek Bridge. It cuts across the foot of the hill, climbing gently through hardwood forest to a small creek. which is crossed and followed up for a bit. The trail then veers South and climbs steeply up the bush faces onto the SW spur of Mt Brown. The spur levels for a bit in the sub-alpine zone and then ascends in a series of steps through the scrub to the tussock. There is a small tarn on the Styx side of the ridge just before the tussock is reached. The route is poled from the scrubline to the Hut. The bottom section of the track has a bit of windthrow that can be skirted fairly easily and there is a bit of seedling, astelia, and flax regeneration on the track in the sub-alpine section along with a couple of boggy patches. Some track scouring is occurring above the scrubline. Glenn Johnston has been doing regular bits of work on the track and he and John Hutt did some windthrow clearance in June. John Roper-Lindsay did some re-marking work in November. Allow 3-4 hours from the start of the track to the Hut depending on fitness.
The other approach to the Hut is from the Styx valley and starts at the large unnamed side-creek known locally as Mt Brown Creek. Access up the Styx valley is along a rough farm trail that turns off the Dorothy Falls Road at sharp bend 400m North of the Mark Wallace Bridge. The trail leads through some marginal paddocks for 1.5 kilometres to the Styx riverbed which is followed for a couple of hundred metres under some large shingle bluffs. These can usually be waded around at normal flows but could be difficult or impossible if the river was up. Mt Brown Creek is five minutes upriver from the bluffs and the Mt Brown track starts 20m up its TL. The track follows the spur up onto a bush terrace, then climbs up a broad bush face onto the Southern spur of Mt Brown. The spur flattens at 800 metres and the track continues up to around 1000m, crosses a sub-alpine gully, then resumes its climb up through the scrub towards the tussock line. Snow poles lead up the last portion of the spur through scattered scrub onto a flat tussock bench with a small tarn just below the Hut. The track is kept in reasonably good shape by Glenn Johnston and John Hutt who are planning some more work on it later this winter. Allow around four hours currently from the Styx bluffs to Mt Brown Hut. Those doing the circuit have a three-kilometre walk along the Dorothy Falls Road between carparks.
Type
Transitioning a standard 4-bunk FS design with an open fire to an alpine setting required numerous modifications to meet a host building code and DOC safety standards that didn't exist in 1962. An alcove with a small coal-burning stove replaced the chimney, the original louvre windows were replaced with double-glazed ones, and an extra side window added. The bunks were modified from stand-alone to single upper and lower platforms, an aluminium roof flashing was added to protect kea from lead poisoning (although it hasn't stopped them picking away at it), along with a porch, a deck, a roof-fed water tank, and an outside sink bench.
The Hut has been strengthened to withstand 250kmph winds without tie-downs There are 4.5 tons of concrete in the foundations and the hold-down fastenings are in excess of safety requirements. The Hut is lined with 12mm plywood, and the floors are 10mm ply on top of the original rimu tongue and groove. The ceiling lining covers a 300 x 100mm ridge, fastened by 16mm bolts at each end. The framing is fastened with hold-down straps, and the wall studs are at 400mm centres with 25x1x400mm hold-down straps, top and bottom. Hurricane clips were added to the clearlight on the porch six months after the Hut was opened, because it was flexing and tearing around the nails in the high winds. The water tank tap freezes regularly overnight in winter, so fill your water containers before you go to bed. If the tank runs dry the water in the tarns on the bench below the Hut is potable.
Condition
Mt Brown Hut is in excellent condition structurally however high visitor numbers have impacted on the fuel supply for the woodburner and on the condition of the track. After we stopped flying coal for the burner people then took to burning live alpine scrub and ripping pages out of the hutbook to light the fire. A diagonal brace from the toilet door has had to be replaced twice, having been used for the same purposes. If you want to operate the woodburner we advise you to carry your own fuel up.
A working bee in April 2019 saw the Hut completely repainted inside and out, and the deck stained. The burner is at the end of its shelf life and had started to corrode quite badly. The original toilet hole proved inadequate, and Hugh and some friends dug a new toilet hole and moved the toilet over to it in November 2018. The toilet was in pretty bad shape and the hole full by early 2020, and a new one was flown in and erected by volunteers in September of that year. Water had been pooling in the depression in front of the Hut, extending in under the veranda. A notch was cut through the ridge to drain this in September 2020. Toilet issues have continued alas, the most recent was when the toilet door and stud was ripped off by the wind. People obviously haven't been fastening it properly which is asking for trouble at that altitude. There are also issues with the DOC door design which has weak spots around the hinge, bracing, and stud. In November Geoff Spearpoint and Ted Brennan wandered up and reattached the door, added some extra bracing, and built an external door stop. On my most recent trip up in December I noticed that the downpipe feeding the water tank is being held in place buy duct tape and a bit of rope. A DOC crew kindly replaced the broken glass in the wood burner door in June.
Styx catchment. Map BV19. Grid Ref: E1452950/ N5252150 (BV19 530 522). Altitude 1120m. Mt Brown Hut is located above the bushline on the West ridge of Mt Brown, which is an outlier of the Newton Range. Access up to it is straightforward in most weather and on clear days there are fabulous views of the Southern Alps, Lake Kaniere, and the coastal plain.
Access
There are two routes up to the Hut providing an overnight loop for those interested. The most direct and frequently used is from Geologist Creek on the Dorothy Falls Road that goes around the back of Lake Kaniere. The track starts at a washed-out parking area on the South side of the Geologist Creek Bridge. It cuts across the foot of the hill, climbing gently through hardwood forest to a small creek. which is crossed and followed up for a bit. The trail then veers South and climbs steeply up the bush faces onto the SW spur of Mt Brown. The spur levels for a bit in the sub-alpine zone and then ascends in a series of steps through the scrub to the tussock. There is a small tarn on the Styx side of the ridge just before the tussock is reached. The route is poled from the scrubline to the Hut. The bottom section of the track has a bit of windthrow that can be skirted fairly easily and there is a bit of seedling, astelia, and flax regeneration on the track in the sub-alpine section along with a couple of boggy patches. Some track scouring is occurring above the scrubline. Glenn Johnston has been doing regular bits of work on the track and he and John Hutt did some windthrow clearance in June. John Roper-Lindsay did some re-marking work in November. Allow 3-4 hours from the start of the track to the Hut depending on fitness.
The other approach to the Hut is from the Styx valley and starts at the large unnamed side-creek known locally as Mt Brown Creek. Access up the Styx valley is along a rough farm trail that turns off the Dorothy Falls Road at sharp bend 400m North of the Mark Wallace Bridge. The trail leads through some marginal paddocks for 1.5 kilometres to the Styx riverbed which is followed for a couple of hundred metres under some large shingle bluffs. These can usually be waded around at normal flows but could be difficult or impossible if the river was up. Mt Brown Creek is five minutes upriver from the bluffs and the Mt Brown track starts 20m up its TL. The track follows the spur up onto a bush terrace, then climbs up a broad bush face onto the Southern spur of Mt Brown. The spur flattens at 800 metres and the track continues up to around 1000m, crosses a sub-alpine gully, then resumes its climb up through the scrub towards the tussock line. Snow poles lead up the last portion of the spur through scattered scrub onto a flat tussock bench with a small tarn just below the Hut. The track is kept in reasonably good shape by Glenn Johnston and John Hutt who are planning some more work on it later this winter. Allow around four hours currently from the Styx bluffs to Mt Brown Hut. Those doing the circuit have a three-kilometre walk along the Dorothy Falls Road between carparks.
Type
Transitioning a standard 4-bunk FS design with an open fire to an alpine setting required numerous modifications to meet a host building code and DOC safety standards that didn't exist in 1962. An alcove with a small coal-burning stove replaced the chimney, the original louvre windows were replaced with double-glazed ones, and an extra side window added. The bunks were modified from stand-alone to single upper and lower platforms, an aluminium roof flashing was added to protect kea from lead poisoning (although it hasn't stopped them picking away at it), along with a porch, a deck, a roof-fed water tank, and an outside sink bench.
The Hut has been strengthened to withstand 250kmph winds without tie-downs There are 4.5 tons of concrete in the foundations and the hold-down fastenings are in excess of safety requirements. The Hut is lined with 12mm plywood, and the floors are 10mm ply on top of the original rimu tongue and groove. The ceiling lining covers a 300 x 100mm ridge, fastened by 16mm bolts at each end. The framing is fastened with hold-down straps, and the wall studs are at 400mm centres with 25x1x400mm hold-down straps, top and bottom. Hurricane clips were added to the clearlight on the porch six months after the Hut was opened, because it was flexing and tearing around the nails in the high winds. The water tank tap freezes regularly overnight in winter, so fill your water containers before you go to bed. If the tank runs dry the water in the tarns on the bench below the Hut is potable.
Condition
Mt Brown Hut is in excellent condition structurally however high visitor numbers have impacted on the fuel supply for the woodburner and on the condition of the track. After we stopped flying coal for the burner people then took to burning live alpine scrub and ripping pages out of the hutbook to light the fire. A diagonal brace from the toilet door has had to be replaced twice, having been used for the same purposes. If you want to operate the woodburner we advise you to carry your own fuel up.
A working bee in April 2019 saw the Hut completely repainted inside and out, and the deck stained. The burner is at the end of its shelf life and had started to corrode quite badly. The original toilet hole proved inadequate, and Hugh and some friends dug a new toilet hole and moved the toilet over to it in November 2018. The toilet was in pretty bad shape and the hole full by early 2020, and a new one was flown in and erected by volunteers in September of that year. Water had been pooling in the depression in front of the Hut, extending in under the veranda. A notch was cut through the ridge to drain this in September 2020. Toilet issues have continued alas, the most recent was when the toilet door and stud was ripped off by the wind. People obviously haven't been fastening it properly which is asking for trouble at that altitude. There are also issues with the DOC door design which has weak spots around the hinge, bracing, and stud. In November Geoff Spearpoint and Ted Brennan wandered up and reattached the door, added some extra bracing, and built an external door stop. On my most recent trip up in December I noticed that the downpipe feeding the water tank is being held in place buy duct tape and a bit of rope. A DOC crew kindly replaced the broken glass in the wood burner door in June.
Newton Range heading East towards Pt. 1240m: Photo Jo Stilwell 2018
Routes
A traverse the Newton Range from Mt Brown to Newton Range Biv is a great and scenic option for fitter, more experienced types. The is rough and undulating and dips well into the alpine scrub zone just East of Mt Brown. A rough trail exists on the scrubbier bits, however there are quite a few ups and downs before a steep uphill section that leads to point 1240m. One more scrubby knoll needs traversing after this in order to reach open tussock. There are some nice tarns just before point 1336m and some interesting ultramafic rock outcrops on its eastern flank. The Range dips again after point 1336m and this is followed by a short steep climb over point 1240m after which the terrain flattens. Newton Biv is tucked against a tussock bank at the western edge of a flat peaty bench with tarns, GPS Ref: E1458873/ N5251148 (BV19 589 511). Snow stakes lead from the crest of the range over to where the Biv is sited. People are taking on average 7-10 hours to do this traverse according to the Biv's hutbook but it can be done in five by fit types. It is rumoured that DOC may be interested in cutting and maintaining the scrub sections of this route. A recent party traversing the Range has apparently given it a light manicure.
Repairs needed.
The downpipe feeding the water tank needs fixing. It is likely that the burner will be removed at the end of its life given that we’ve stopped flying coal in and an absence of a natural fuel at that altitude. In the meantime, people are being encouraged to carry their own fuel up. A longer-term solution for the toilet needs to be sorted out as we can’t go on digging holes around the place. These fill rapidly because of high use, and the peaty nature of the surrounds and high water-table are not a hygienic option. A removable container seems the way to go, but the high costs of flying these in and out are beyond our budget.
The track from Geologist Creek needs a bit of windthrow clearance at a the bottom end a good trim in the montane zone. There is one boggy bit at 950m that needs boardwalking and a bit more drain boxing needs to be done on the scoured sections in the tussock zone.
Provisions on site
A kettle, a coal bucket and two shovels, a poker, a saw with a broken handle and a broom. There is an aluminium ladder under the hut.
A traverse the Newton Range from Mt Brown to Newton Range Biv is a great and scenic option for fitter, more experienced types. The is rough and undulating and dips well into the alpine scrub zone just East of Mt Brown. A rough trail exists on the scrubbier bits, however there are quite a few ups and downs before a steep uphill section that leads to point 1240m. One more scrubby knoll needs traversing after this in order to reach open tussock. There are some nice tarns just before point 1336m and some interesting ultramafic rock outcrops on its eastern flank. The Range dips again after point 1336m and this is followed by a short steep climb over point 1240m after which the terrain flattens. Newton Biv is tucked against a tussock bank at the western edge of a flat peaty bench with tarns, GPS Ref: E1458873/ N5251148 (BV19 589 511). Snow stakes lead from the crest of the range over to where the Biv is sited. People are taking on average 7-10 hours to do this traverse according to the Biv's hutbook but it can be done in five by fit types. It is rumoured that DOC may be interested in cutting and maintaining the scrub sections of this route. A recent party traversing the Range has apparently given it a light manicure.
Repairs needed.
The downpipe feeding the water tank needs fixing. It is likely that the burner will be removed at the end of its life given that we’ve stopped flying coal in and an absence of a natural fuel at that altitude. In the meantime, people are being encouraged to carry their own fuel up. A longer-term solution for the toilet needs to be sorted out as we can’t go on digging holes around the place. These fill rapidly because of high use, and the peaty nature of the surrounds and high water-table are not a hygienic option. A removable container seems the way to go, but the high costs of flying these in and out are beyond our budget.
The track from Geologist Creek needs a bit of windthrow clearance at a the bottom end a good trim in the montane zone. There is one boggy bit at 950m that needs boardwalking and a bit more drain boxing needs to be done on the scoured sections in the tussock zone.
Provisions on site
A kettle, a coal bucket and two shovels, a poker, a saw with a broken handle and a broom. There is an aluminium ladder under the hut.
