Roaring Billy Hut
Location
Haast River, The Roaring Billy catchment. Map BY13 Lake Paringa, E1304673/ N5133179 (BY13 047 332). Altitude 460m. Roaring Billy Hut is sited about half-way up the TL of The Roaring Billy valley in a small clearing near the river. The clearing is ringed by silver beech forest. The tracked sections of the valley are not currently marked on NZ Topomaps.
Maintenance Status
Roaring Billy Hut is a Permolat maintain-by-community initiative, with Geoff Spearpoint as contract signatory. In 2015 Geoff secured some Back Country Trust funding, and assisted by others, did some significant maintenance and painted the Hut. Prior to all of this the Hut had limited official maintenance, the last probably around 2005. Foot access was until recently up a some very overgrown tracked sections on the TL of the valley. These had bits of work done on them by various people from 2015, and in February 2025 Geoff and I did a proper recut and marking of the original lines.
Roaring Billy is getting around five recorded visits a year, mostly fly-ins for the roar. The valley is one of DOC's roar blocks and is normally booked throughout April. The Hut itself can't be booked and remains open to other users at all times, but if you're up there during the roar you'll most likely be sharing the space if you haven't got a tent. Go there during any one of the other 11 months and there's a very high probability you'll have the place to yourselves.
Access
Jet boat, kayak or raft across the Haast River to the track start on the TL of the Roaring Billy (the entrance is at E1302552/ N 5128532). The Haast River is pooling at the confluence and is easy to ferry across at normal flows. The track climbs very steeply initially to get around the waterfall at the start of the valley, then sidles above the river to for a couple of kms to the first major flat, emerging at E1303432/ N5130229. The next section is unmarked and traverses the river flats between forested sections that have light deer trails and intermittent clearings. Several fords are required to get the best line. The river is flat, shallow and wide on this bit and easy to cross at normal flows. The track restarts at E1303945/ 5131448 and climbs steadily up through some rough and undulating terrain with the odd boggy patch. Geoff and Hugh van Noorden recut the first 100 vertical metres of the lower valley section from the Haast River in December '24. The remainder of this and the upper section were done by Geoff and I in February '25. The route is currently in good shape and a fit party should be able to reach the Hut from the Haast River in 3-4 hours.
An overgrown track up the TL of the valley from the Hut to the first large river flat is rough but should still be followable. It's been trimmed and flagged occasionally, and the deer use bits of it.
Type
Roaring Billy Hut is a standard NZFS 6-bunk S70 design with open fire, built about 1970.
Haast River, The Roaring Billy catchment. Map BY13 Lake Paringa, E1304673/ N5133179 (BY13 047 332). Altitude 460m. Roaring Billy Hut is sited about half-way up the TL of The Roaring Billy valley in a small clearing near the river. The clearing is ringed by silver beech forest. The tracked sections of the valley are not currently marked on NZ Topomaps.
Maintenance Status
Roaring Billy Hut is a Permolat maintain-by-community initiative, with Geoff Spearpoint as contract signatory. In 2015 Geoff secured some Back Country Trust funding, and assisted by others, did some significant maintenance and painted the Hut. Prior to all of this the Hut had limited official maintenance, the last probably around 2005. Foot access was until recently up a some very overgrown tracked sections on the TL of the valley. These had bits of work done on them by various people from 2015, and in February 2025 Geoff and I did a proper recut and marking of the original lines.
Roaring Billy is getting around five recorded visits a year, mostly fly-ins for the roar. The valley is one of DOC's roar blocks and is normally booked throughout April. The Hut itself can't be booked and remains open to other users at all times, but if you're up there during the roar you'll most likely be sharing the space if you haven't got a tent. Go there during any one of the other 11 months and there's a very high probability you'll have the place to yourselves.
Access
Jet boat, kayak or raft across the Haast River to the track start on the TL of the Roaring Billy (the entrance is at E1302552/ N 5128532). The Haast River is pooling at the confluence and is easy to ferry across at normal flows. The track climbs very steeply initially to get around the waterfall at the start of the valley, then sidles above the river to for a couple of kms to the first major flat, emerging at E1303432/ N5130229. The next section is unmarked and traverses the river flats between forested sections that have light deer trails and intermittent clearings. Several fords are required to get the best line. The river is flat, shallow and wide on this bit and easy to cross at normal flows. The track restarts at E1303945/ 5131448 and climbs steadily up through some rough and undulating terrain with the odd boggy patch. Geoff and Hugh van Noorden recut the first 100 vertical metres of the lower valley section from the Haast River in December '24. The remainder of this and the upper section were done by Geoff and I in February '25. The route is currently in good shape and a fit party should be able to reach the Hut from the Haast River in 3-4 hours.
An overgrown track up the TL of the valley from the Hut to the first large river flat is rough but should still be followable. It's been trimmed and flagged occasionally, and the deer use bits of it.
Type
Roaring Billy Hut is a standard NZFS 6-bunk S70 design with open fire, built about 1970.
Hut repairs: Photo Hugh van Noorden 2015
Condition
The Roaring Billy is in reasonably sound condition currently. The 2015 work included straightening of the chimney which had a new base poured under it. Some sagging sheets of internal ply were replaced along with the roof ridging and skylight. The Hut's exterior was repainted, a woodshed built, and a new concrete doorstep poured. They also started work on the tracks up and down valley from the Hut. The second work party replaced the door stud and rehung the door, adding a few missing dwangs, finished a few more inside panels, then painted the inside, chimney, woodshed, and toilet. Drains were dug around three sides of the Hut. In 2022 DOC Haast flew in and cut back a tier of vegetation from the southern side of the Hut making the place much lighter and airier. This has made a significant difference to the general internal dryness of the place. Outstanding issues include six of the piles that have core rot, four some external rot. The rest are OK. There are some small areas where the internal ply has buckled at floor level and one small damp patch in the SW corner. The condition of the rest of the buckling hasn't changed since Geoff did the 2015 repairs which indicates water is no longer getting in at those spots. The paint has started blistering in a few spots on the exterior cladding at the door end and the NW wall, exposing the metal primer. The fire surround has eroded at foot of the two side plates.
Routes
The Thomas Range can be accessed and traversed along to Windrow Spur, which gives good access into the Thomas River and Thomas River Hut. The Thomas Range southwest of Mt Swindle is good travel and proves other access points down into the Thomas valley. The Range can also be traversed to the northeast to access the head of the Thomas or the Macfarlane Rivers.
Repairs still needed.
Replacement of the rotten piles. Repainting of the blistered areas of the cladding. Replacement of the fire surround's side plates. A new louvre latch on the western window to replace a broken. A new toilet hole needs to be dug. The hut door needs repainting and sealing done on its bottom flashing.
Provisions on Site
Paint, a ladder, a hammer, wrecking bar, saw, permolat, a chisel, detergent, lots of miscellaneous cleaning stuff including Moss and Mould wash, two stainless steel buckets, 2 billys, an ash bucket, a large plastic basin, a frypan, 2 hearth shovel & brooms, a shovel, axe, bowsaw, a roll of insect netting, 2 x louvre windowpanes, a 10-litre plastic bucket with miscellaneous tools and some small bits of ply and a couple of lengths of 4x2 under the bunk.
The Roaring Billy is in reasonably sound condition currently. The 2015 work included straightening of the chimney which had a new base poured under it. Some sagging sheets of internal ply were replaced along with the roof ridging and skylight. The Hut's exterior was repainted, a woodshed built, and a new concrete doorstep poured. They also started work on the tracks up and down valley from the Hut. The second work party replaced the door stud and rehung the door, adding a few missing dwangs, finished a few more inside panels, then painted the inside, chimney, woodshed, and toilet. Drains were dug around three sides of the Hut. In 2022 DOC Haast flew in and cut back a tier of vegetation from the southern side of the Hut making the place much lighter and airier. This has made a significant difference to the general internal dryness of the place. Outstanding issues include six of the piles that have core rot, four some external rot. The rest are OK. There are some small areas where the internal ply has buckled at floor level and one small damp patch in the SW corner. The condition of the rest of the buckling hasn't changed since Geoff did the 2015 repairs which indicates water is no longer getting in at those spots. The paint has started blistering in a few spots on the exterior cladding at the door end and the NW wall, exposing the metal primer. The fire surround has eroded at foot of the two side plates.
Routes
The Thomas Range can be accessed and traversed along to Windrow Spur, which gives good access into the Thomas River and Thomas River Hut. The Thomas Range southwest of Mt Swindle is good travel and proves other access points down into the Thomas valley. The Range can also be traversed to the northeast to access the head of the Thomas or the Macfarlane Rivers.
Repairs still needed.
Replacement of the rotten piles. Repainting of the blistered areas of the cladding. Replacement of the fire surround's side plates. A new louvre latch on the western window to replace a broken. A new toilet hole needs to be dug. The hut door needs repainting and sealing done on its bottom flashing.
Provisions on Site
Paint, a ladder, a hammer, wrecking bar, saw, permolat, a chisel, detergent, lots of miscellaneous cleaning stuff including Moss and Mould wash, two stainless steel buckets, 2 billys, an ash bucket, a large plastic basin, a frypan, 2 hearth shovel & brooms, a shovel, axe, bowsaw, a roll of insect netting, 2 x louvre windowpanes, a 10-litre plastic bucket with miscellaneous tools and some small bits of ply and a couple of lengths of 4x2 under the bunk.
