Harper Pass - Kiwi Saddle CAMPING

There are lots of huts along the way so why bother with a tent unless you really want to. Locke Stream hut in particular has a lot of character and even hand hewn floor boards.

I would prefer my tent, but I will definitely consider the huts. How busy does it get during December? Is there a need to reserve a spot for the huts ? Do you think I could just pick my tent anywhere? Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Maybe someone else can answer your question specifically for december. However - the hut books in general were pretty empty - less than 1 party per week average over the whole summer - it's not a popular walk. Hurunui gets most use from overnighters and hunters. I saw no-one all the way across in march 07. Most huts are rediculously oversized: Hurunui, No 3, No 4 all are huge and the chances of them being full are minimal. Camerons and Harper Biv are small but less popular too. Couldn't cross river (was in flood) so no idea what Kiwi is like. You cannot book any of these huts - they are all first-come-first served. That's the case for (almost) all huts except those on the great walks. And yes - there's easy camping at all of the huts and also on river flats which are present for all of the walk. Only exception is maybe 5km either side of the pass which is in bush - though there's flat ground at Harper Biv if you wanted to stay there and it was full.

thanks for your answer, it was very helpful. I am actually glad that this walk is actually not too popular - but i am also wondering why, it looks really nice to me.

I did it in march and thought it was great. the main problem was transport