following on from another thread that went off topic
the standard of hut warden training seems to vary greatly
had one hut warden coem up to us at a hut, we were relaxing at the end of a days tramp. he didnt introduce himself. in an abrupt manner asked for tickets, then without us saying anything, he started prattling on like a robot making a standard spiel about other trips we could do while we were here, then went and did the same to others.
some hut wardens just border on harrassment, as someone else mentioned when their tramping partner commented to a warden "skip it we've had a long day" and the warden will have been lurking around maybe had a bit of a walk with a light day pack and pounces on whoever they come across like a cop pulling you over to give you a ticket....
can a ranger throw you out of a park if you dont present a hut ticket to them on a track?
had another one give a talk at a great walk talking about tree species that didnt even exist....
yet some of them have an incredible amount of knowledge and know what they are talking about.
Ok yep hut wardens. It depends which huts you mean, some are private (NZAC etc) so can have resident wardens either from doc or club and these guys are usually on to it.
Then you have the cag 1 doc hut wardens, that includes 'great walks' huts. These guys/girls are volunteers who most often seen to be foreigners. Usually dont have a clue, but there are a few who are quite decent (there was a foxy english? warden at French Ridge apparently..) anyway they dont really get paid its mostly volunteer stuff I'm pretty sure.
They cant and wont kick you out of a hut if you dont have tickets/cash. They can write you out an invoice to be paid at the doc office.
Stay away from huts anyway, they are full of punters or bad vibe merchants. Thats why I bought a tent, I go into the hills to get away from humans!
Hut Wardens? i don't recall ever meeting one anywhere really important.
Met a DOC ranger once she was quite nice but was in too much of a hurry to get somewhere fast to bother with me camped in the corner.
Met some track cutters on a couple of occasions but they where well mellowed out by the time i turned up and more concerned with food :)
Just remembered once gave a cheque to a DOC track maintenance guy called Allan at Waitewheta for a nights stay 2 years later i got a call from DOC asking if it was alright to cash the cheque he had just handed in. Interesting guy a vegetarian he only carried a couple of avocados for food and he wouldn't stay in the hut preferred to sleep curled up in the bush in his yellow plastic rain coat.
"Hut Wardens? i don't recall ever meeting one anywhere really important."
um, what do you mean by this statement? Have you never been anywhere important, or never met any hut wardens? or both?
neither?
I know some wardens can be a pain but I'm reluctant to be too critical as one of my major gripes is that DoC does little to effectively police hut fees consistently and so many people don't pay, and it ends up being more of an honesty tax except in the most intensive tourist spots where there's genuine cash flow resulting from enforcement.
My underlying gripe is that I think hut fees as implemented are silly anyway and that huts should be funded from less direct sources.
how can doc employ a warden who sleeps outside in a raincoat?
how can someone like that be trusted to be rational in running a hut?
To answer your question Damon I am often amazed when walking high volume tracks and I have done them all in the north island in the last 2 years to never seeing a warden.
Maybe im just lucky as I do prefer a less busy hut at night. I watch these posts obviously and am amazed at the amount of contact you guys have with other people its rare (and I have to say welcome) for me to see anybody while walking. I personally have no problem with Hut Fees unfortunately getting the less than honest members of the human race to pay is always going to be a problem and politicians red white or blue are going to use the numbers to serve thier own purpose as it suits them. The good news is that unlike many places in the world we do get to choose who they are every 3 years.
The trouble with hut wardens is that DOC will give the job to anyone who will do it for nothing. Usually these are tourists themselves, looking for cheap shelter, either that or misfits of some sort. Unfortunately they don't seem to realise that these people become ambassadors f and hosts for tourists in our backcountry. The standard is inevitably very poor.
