Does anyone else still hate the 'new' DOC website?
I'm starting to plan a tramp in the Kaweka Range next year and went looking for info about camping at a few of the huts.
We'll be using tents in preference to sleeping in the huts (assuming reasonable weather :) but DOC doesn't mention camping at all.
So, what's the space like (need maybe 5 single tents) around the following :
Oamaru, Tussock, Harkness, Te Puke, Magaturutu, Tira, Ballard.
What's the cost, these days, to camp at a backcountry hut? It used to be 1 ticket for camping at a serviced hut and free at a standard one.
The costs for staying in and camping at huts is under "hut categories" which is under "places to stay"->"stay in a hut".
It's $5 to camp at serviced and standard huts, and free at basic/non serviced ones.
Well, I'll be ..............
I went to that page but missed the info completely ! Thanks, Yarmoss, and sorry for the naff part of the question.
So, what's the space like (need maybe 5 single tents) around :
Oamaru, Tussock, Harkness, Te Puke, Magaturutu, Tira, Ballard.
Also, are there any tarns to camp beside along the range between Whetu and Kaweka J? (I'm guessing the answer is no - can't see anything on the maps or GE but thought I'd ask).
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the new site. You would think you could find the info on hut prices directly from the "huts" page, but no.
Good luck with your planning :)
This post has been edited by the author on 14 November 2015 at 11:37.
Re tarns on the tops - there's a beautiful little spot down off the main track to North Kaweka (look east as you near the trig, can't miss it). Nothing between Whetu and J, but if you drop off down Trials Spur for a hundred or so vertical metres there are a couple of tarns with a few passable camping spots - probably not for 5 tents though.
Re camping at huts - Te Puia, Mackintosh, Middle Hill, Kiwi Saddle, Kiwi Mouth and Studholme Saddle (biv) could all accommodate five tents. Castle Camp is also a decent spot with plenty of room.
Ballard - two tents maybe?
Harkness - heaps of space.
Mangaturutu - you'd probably fit five, might be a bit cosy.
Tira - as above, not a lot of flat land but doable.
Oamaru - no worries at all.
Tussock - not really, maybe 2 tents out the back?
Te Puke - nothing really.
Enjoy!
The only two off the huts I have visited on that list are Tussock and Tira/Vension Tops. From memory there was enough flat ground around each to pit several tents though some of that may very well have been the helicopter pads.
I went from Whetu along to Kaweka J a few years ago and do not remember seeing any tarns. However, it was in some fairly crap weather and visibilty was lucky to be 20m at times so very well could have missed something.
Edit: Hutch beat me to it!
This post has been edited by the author on 14 November 2015 at 12:45.
I must admit to resorting to chopper pads on occasion (set up late, gone early). Nothing so relaxing as waiting half awake for that distant chokkachokkachokkachokka :-)
Ahh, brilliant ! Those tarns near Kaweka N are just what I was looking for. I found a good pic on the Napier TC website (thanks, Keith).
Thanks guys – invaluable information.
Another Kaweka question .....
I see a blue cross (cold water spring) on the topo maps about 500m north of Kaweka J, on the 1680m contour (so about 20m below the ridge, to the west) - can anyone tell me about it? does it actually exist? is water available from it? how reliable? accessible?
I did lots of searching but couldn't turn up any reference to it (swamped by links to the hot springs).
I wonder a bit on the grounds by which DOC can charge someone for camping outside a hut. The Conservation Act and National Parks Act say it's okay to charge for provided facilities. But if you just happen to be camped in a great place even though DOC's dumped a hut in your way, and you don't use any of the facilities which come with that hut, is that the same thing?
It's legal in Conservation Areas to set regulations which allow setting charges for the use of campsites, but what's a campsite? Is it *any* space outside a hut, or only spaces which appear to be engineered for camping? The closest regulation in force (this one http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/1979/0214/latest/whole.html#DLM67066 ) seems to let DOC set conditions for using amenities, but it doesn't specifically mention charges. Maybe that's enough, but it doesn't seem very targeted.
For a National Park, it's possible to use a bylaw to have charges no campsites. Each NP has its own bylaws, and the couple I've looked at don't seem to get specific about restricting or charging for camping outside huts.
