I just got back from doing the Dundas loop . The weather gave us a bit of everything, still crystal clear tops with views up to Ruapehu, howling Norwesters that made you think you would be blown down to the Ruamahanga, clagged in pea soup morning, add plenty of roaring stags and aching muscles, awesome .
Couldn't help but notice in all the hut books along the way some guy is protesting the fact that it looks like DOC Wairarapa want to remove and not replace Cattle Ridge hut, which would be a travesty in my opinion, a terrible decision .
They consider it 'non core', they would then no longer maintain the track to Cattle ridge from Roaring Stag . Which would then mean removing Dundas hut, as they also consider this 'non core', and the track from Dundas to Cattle Ridge would then be left to grow over, without these two water tanks alone it would almost wipe out this part of the Tararua as tramping country .
If anyone feels like letting DOC Wairarapa know this is not a good idea, do it, or even better visit one of these huts and leave a hut ticket behind to prove they are worth keeping .
I love the northern part of the Tararua, after Mcgregor and Aokaparangi, Dundas is my favourite hut, it feels so remote and getting there can be really testing, its some rugged country .
DOC leave those two historic relics of the deer cullers era alone, they should be treated as diamonds, Taonga .
I emailed DoC Wairarapa a week and a half ago to politely ask about what was happening with Cattle Ridge Hut, and also for any unclassified info about dealings with the NZDA and the reasoning for whatever decision's being reached.
I've yet to get an acknowledgement, but sent a reminder last night to ask if it got through. Strictly speaking my request (as with any request for information) is covered under the Official Information Act and a government department is required to provide requested information unless there's a good (and legally defined) reason not to. My original request wasn't very well worded specifically for an OIA request, but I'm wondering if it could be really interesting to get the specifics of the question right, and properly ask DoC for all the info it holds on current assessments of huts in the Tararuas (or elsewhere) as far as future maintenance and/or removal is concerned. Maybe someone's already done this.
There's a community website at http://www.fyi.org.nz/ which helps make the OIA process much more streamlined for requestors. It seems to be down at the moment I'm posting this.
Engineers report concluded that it had "reached the end of its serviceable life" and recommended that it be replaced "in a more robust and durable method of construction".
DOC would not fund any replacement as it is a non-core hut being only a couple of hours from both Dundas and Roaring Stag huts. However, efforts are still being made by the NZDA to reach an agreement with DOC to save the current hut, if practical. The more public support for Cattle Ridge that can be expressed to DOC Wairarapa the greater the chance they have of getting agreement from DOC for this to happen.
Dundas to the best of my knowledge is a core hut so is not under any threat.
How about nominating it as an Historic Place with the Historic Places Trust? It seems as if much of the argument for keeping it is that it has an important history. http://www.historic.org.nz/TheRegister/Nominate.aspx
I was there only a few months ago and i agree that it needs to be kept.Just a bit of TLC would keep it going.The porch definently needs work on it but as a former builder repair is very doable in my opinion.Yes agree about Aokaparangi,McGregor and Dundas as awesome locations and also highly reconmend Elder as another.Hopefully something can be sorted out to save Cattle Ridge.
Historic huts get protection but Cattle Ridge is already too modified to get this status. I don't know what in the Tararuas is classified as historic but the Ruahines have a number - Waterfall, Middle Stream, Top Maropea. It may be that examples of non modified NZFS 4 and 6 bunkers are being protected in other parks so none of these types of huts will be in the Tararuas.
According to the engineer what Cattle Ridge requires is new roofing, spouting, external cladding, windows and bottom plates to make it water tight and replace rotten parts. The piles also need resetting as a number have been undermined (in heavy rain which is not uncommon int he Tararuas water runs under the hut), the hut is mostly held in place by the guy wires. Quite a lot to do but all possible, bit like grandfathers axe....... DOC do not have the funds to do this. It requires an assessment by the NZDA to see if they think it is practical to fund (along with hopefully the Tararua Huts Committee and any other available source of funding), fix up and maintain the hut AND then get agreement from DOC to let them do so.
The 1000 or so backcountry huts that DOC manage as part of the public estate are an essential part of our unique tramping heritage in this country. Yes they serve as shelter and safety.
More importantly than this, they are our wharenui, our meeting houses. They are the place where all of us, trampers and hunters of all ages and experiences, come together as equals and as fellows. This is why they are important, and why as a community we must, must, put our hands up and protect them.
If we stand back and let DOC apply a purely arbitrary and purely functional measuring stick across this heritage... we will surely year on year lose it. We have lost enough already.
I'm asking every keen and committed tramper who reads this to take stock and consider this and what you might be able to contribute. We are all busy people and in the modern world community action is never easy. But nothing worth achieving was ever easy. Think of the immense hurdles Geoff Chapple and his friends have leapt over to create Te Araroa.. if he can do it so can we.
I dont see why Cattle Ridge could be termed "to much modified" to class as Historic......sure the log fire was removed(was stuffed)and the hut only has 5 instead of 6 bunks(but that has been so since 1974)
6 bunk huts are icons from the Deer Culling days in the Tararuas, and Dundas Hut has had the upgrade that it deserved, and should not be removed .
The Wellington Conservancy recreation opportunities review Oct 2004 (which is good for a ten year span and contains submissions and analysis and decisions from the public on visitor facilities needed to provide opportunities on PUBLIC CONSERVATION LAND )states "that Cattle Ridge provides a different experience from Roaring Stag,it is useful as a safety shelter on the tops .It provides access to routes in the NE Tararua,s"
The review sought a Community Maintenance agreement.
One of the reasons for this decision was "....however DOC will work with the current custodian,NZDA Wellington,to assist with ongoing care and managementof the hut...some upgrade work has been completed and THE HUT IS BASICALLY SOUND"
The ROR (as the review is known) was the Wellington Conservancies "work programme "to the Minister of Conservation for the ten years from 2004.The Minister has approved this work programme , but it has not been carried out to date.
Instead money has been spent on other non-programmed tasks(a boardwalk north of Mitre Flats Hut ,on a BCA track,at a probable cost in excess of $15g as one example)when reference to the ROR (and AMIS)would have identified tasks in line with the Ministerially approved ROR.
thers some rulling about builgs if they sleep six you need two exits or something like that
but that law was made for multi room houses. but doc had to comply and went around ripping out bunks from six bunk huts so they would comle with the law....
the people making the rules on removing huts need to get back out into the mountains in a raging storm and know or remember what it feels like when a hut looms out of the gloom after you've been exposed to the elements humping a pack for hours.
who knows how many lives a hut like that has saved over the years, they are like lifeboats in the mountains. they just want to remove them and not replace them with anything, not even a bivvie. the tararuas is a pretty heavily used area compared to a lot of national parks, there must be over 600 thousand people living around it and a reasonable no of them enter the park.
