i think the charging for camping next to a hut is assuming you are using the hut as well.
theres strange rules on the great walks, if you're camping , you're not supposed to go near the huts. but if you're day walking you can stop at the huts and use them, just not the cookers. some guys were camped off the track at one great walk hut but were hanging out at the hut, the ranger found out and started lecturing them, they were supposed to be 500m off the track but were nowhere near that far. its an easy rule to break if you're camped out of site, the bush is so thick on most great walks you could be completely hidden tens of metres off the track, less after dark. so how can you enforce a 500m rule? tongariro is the only place you would have a chance. are rangers going to measure if someone is 500m off a track? are they really going to go after someone who's 300m off the track, you could argue you cant judge distance and you made a reasonable effort to get off the track. the rule is probably in place to discourage people from using the great walks at all by putting a distance in place that makes it difficult to follow the track for all but the determined. its often difficult terrain and or thick bush around the great walks..
If you camp anywhere near the hut then you probably use the loo there. Great walks and a lot of alpine huts use helecopter tank loos which have a cost to run
I’d camp beside a hut, use the loo, but probably not make much (if any) use of the hut – unless it’s hosing down. Having the option of a hut, even if I don’t often use it, is worth paying for, imo.
I get to NZ every couple of years for a couple of 8 to 10 day tramps. I’m quite happy, as a non-Kiwi, to buy a 6-month hut pass, even though it’s very unlikely that I’ll get face value for it.
Wayno, the Great Walk rule regarding hut use is, as you say, strange. Day walkers can use the hut (minus burners) but campers can’t. Hard to justify the difference, hard to police.
The 500m rule seems sensible, however. People like me would probably camp on the track ! Coming down the Nth Routeburn, we camped outside the 500m limit (great little camp, btw) – a map or a GPS makes it pretty easy to measure distances accurately.
………. and the spring north of Kaweka J ??
It's free to camp at standard huts
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to pay something camping near a hut. At the very least you'll be using the loo, which costs something to maintain, and in inclement weather you might take shelter there/cook etc.
I'm happy to pay for camping near a hut. As others have said, the hut needs to be maintained, as does the loo and the water tank.
@bernieq I've had a (half-arsed) look for that spring on a couple of occasions with no joy. Not to say it isn't there, but I don't think it's easily located.
Thanks, hutchk, I guess I'll not rely on it.
I did find one reference to looking for the spring in 2010 but it was unclear if water was actually available.
I'll go looking for it and post an update after the tramp (Apr 2016).
Please do - I've always wondered if it exists. I'm up there a fair bit after Xmas, will have another poke around myself.
