Places to stay
Ruahine Forest Park
Purity Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
The new Purity Hut (6 bunk, tank water, wood burning stove, limited firewood available in locality) is loated on the scrubline on the ridge west of Wooden Peg peak. The hut site is about 200m up t...
Rangiwahia Hut
Hut
• Serviced Hut (DOC). Capacity: 13.
A tidy popular hut. Great views.
Good camping on the tops about 40 minutes further along track.
Daphne Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
8 to 10 person hut.It's in a stunning spot where the northern and western branches of the Tukituki converge. Note, there is no water tank. Water is collected from the river.
Sunrise Hut
Hut
• Serviced Hut (DOC). Capacity: 20.
Popular day trip and weekend hut with great views over Hawkes Bay. Located in Buttercup Hollow on the Ruahine Range.
An NZFS-commissioned Fraemohs Homes construction dating from 1983, extended ...
Longview Hut
Hut
• Serviced Hut (DOC). Capacity: 12.
Longview hut (12 bed platforms, firewood, tank water,non-flush toilet) provided a view of nothing but mist on the occasion I visited it, but in the sleet and mist of a late october storm, the provi...
Howletts Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (Heretaunga Tramping Club). Capacity: 8.
Howletts Hut is located below the 1682m Taumatamekura Peak and the last rest heading north before the infamous Sawtooth Ridge.
The hut sits in a sheltered hollow on the Daphne Ridge just where t...
Awatere Hut
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 3.
Nice 3 bunk hutin the ruahines built in 1957, nice ridge travel over from Kashmir rd.
Mainly used by hunters.
Also 10 min downstream is Black Stag hut not shown on any maps (derelict) Pre-dates A...
Crow Hut (Ruahine Ranges)
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Crow Hut (6 bunk, Pioneer stove, river water) is a standard forestry hut in the western Ruahine Ranges. The hut is on a small flat about 10m above the Kawhatau River on the true left. The hut flat...
Kiritaki Hut / Keretaki Hut / Seamac Motel
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Kiritaki hut (6 beds, wood-burning stove, firewood available in locality, roof-fed water tank). One of many excellent huts in the Ruahines, and the only hut to survive DOC's cull of the Southern Ru...
McKinnon Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Start with a novelty cable car ride across the river and then straight in to a hard uphill slog. Track is very very poor. Very over grown, lots of downed trees. Route across the tops is poled and e...
Diggers Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Diggers Hut has been washed away.
Diggers Hut in the Ruahines. A spacious 4-bunk hut at the back of a flat of waist-high grass in the Southern Ruahines. Featuring a pioneer stove, river water an...
Top Gorge Hut
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 2.
Top Gorge Hut (2 bunks, 3 mattresses, open fire with ample firewood available, river water) is a small, basic hut above the river flat of the Pohangina River.
Most commonly reached from Kash...
Forks Hut (Ruahine)
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
A 6 bunker in regenrating bush in the Southern Ruahines. Wood burner and stream water.
Not so widely visited - probably due to access not being readily granted across farmland. 3 other options...
Otukota Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Otukota Hut sits on a small shelf 50m above the Maropea River. It's an older forestry-style hut in tatty condition (06/2009) with the lining chewed out by rats. That said, it is weather-proof, has ...
Iron Bark Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Iron Bark Hut sits on the western bank of the Maropea River in the Ruahine Ranges. It's a standard 6-bunk forestry style hut with a Pioneer woodburning stove, and water from the creek. The surrou...
Maropea Forks Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Maropea Forks Hut is a typical forestry style 6-bunker on flats near the forks of the North and South Maropea River in the Ruahine Ranges. The hut's on the true left, about 200m up the northern for...
Hinerua Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Hinerua hut is on Hinerua Ridge in Ruahine Forest Park.
A tidy 4-bunk lined hut with a good woodburner. A far warmer and quieter night than the nearby Smith's Stream, but less in the way of cha...
Cattle Creek Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
On river flats in the upper reaches of Cattle Creek lies Cattle Creek Hut (6 beds, wood-burning stove, firewood available in locality, tank water).
The hut lies about 200m (15 mins) below the r...
Piripiri Hut
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 2.
Piripiri Hut is a comfortably spacious 2-bunk hut in the western Ruahine Ranges. Water is from a small creek 20m away. The hut has an open fire, which unfortunately leaves the floor soaked in a do...
Leon Kinvig Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
Leon Kinvig Hut sleeps 8 on 2 platforms. There's a good open fire, plenty of wood around, and water from the river. Like the two downstream huts, Leon Kinvig sits on a river terrace looking over t...
Ikawetea Forks Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 7.
Ikawetea (Ikawatea) Forks Hut has become one of the remotest huts in the Ruahines. Land to its east has been transferred to Iwi ownership, closing legal access from that direction. The valley is bo...
Pourangaki Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
Pouragaki Hut (8-bunk, stove, tank water) is a warm, sheltered hut in a north-facing grassy basin above the Pourangaki River, Ruahine Ranges. There are 8 matresses on two platforms.
A valley ...
Poutaki Hut
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Poutaki hut in the Gwavas Conservation Area, just east of Ruahine Forest Park - a tidy 4-bunk hut overlooking the Hawke's Bay.
The Wakarara Range has just one marked walking track, climbing fr...
Ruahine Corner Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
A six bunk, typical forestry style hut in the northern Ruahine Ranges, surrounded by a huge verandah, and an absolutely unique location.
Ruahine Hut should be approached from the south, prefer...
Happy Daze Hut
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Small, with ample camping. Seems to be some dispute over naming, with Happi Daze being (somewhat forcefully) pushed by some.
Colenso Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
Colenso Hut lies not at its namesake, Lake Colenso, but 5 minutes away on the terraces of the Mangatera River (south fork). It's a standard hut with 8 bunks on two sleeping platforms, a 'corker co...
Kylie Bivouac
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 3.
Kylie Bivouac (sleeps 2-3, tank water) may one day save someone's life on the exposed tops of the Ruahine Ranges - but I suspect that will be the only time anyone will truly enjoy staying there.
...
Waterfall Hut (Ruahine Ranges)
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
An older hut in the head of the Kawhatau River in the heart of the Ruahines
Wakelings Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Wakelings Hut sits in beech forest on the south side of the Wakamaka River in the Ruahine Ranges. It's an older ex-forestry hut, but has a platform rather than individual bunks. The platform slee...
Sparrowhawk Bivouac
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 3.
Sparrowhawk Biviouac (sleeps 2-3, tank water) is one of the nicer biv's in the Ruahine's. The biv is a typical waist-high sleeping-box, with 2 matresses on the floor, and space for 3 at a push (th...
Shutes Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Set in a large clearing, this 1920’s stone-built hut is the best of the Ruahines. Built and inhabited for many years by Alex Shute, it still contains the original visitor’s book. All woodwork and ...
Te Ekaou Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Te Ekaou Hut in the southern Ruahines - one of few surviving bushedge huts in the Ruahines. Accessed across private land, or by a 2-4 hour walk up marginal strips along either Te Ekaou Stream or Ma...
Toka Biv
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 2.
Toka Biv (2 bunk, tarn water) is a small dog-box bivvy on a small plateau on the Pohongina Valley side of the Ngamoko Range. The hut is the normal 2-mattress-on-the-floor, could sleep 3 if requried...
Upper Makaroro Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Upper Makaroro Hut (sleeps 4, wood-burning stove), lies adjacent to the Makaroro River in its upper reaches. It is a simple, but comfortable hut. Water supply is from the river, on which Blue Duc...
Alice Nash Memorial Heritage Lodge
Hut
• Standard Hut (NZDA). Capacity: 8.
Heritage lodge (sleeps 8, tank water, wood stove) is a modern (2007) tramping hut in the Ruahine Ranges. It was built by the NZDA with money from the family of Alice Nash - hence the name.
Th...
Waikamaka Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (Heretaunga Tramping Club). Capacity: 8.
Waikamaka Hut sits in the headwaters of the Waikamaka Stream, 1.5km below the Waipawa Saddle, and below the pyramidical Te Atuaparapara Peak (1687m).
An old tramping club hut, it has a good deal...
Barlow Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
In 1983, Barrie Atkins of the NZFS had $50000 to spend in three weeks. So he purchased two huts from Fraemohs Homes. Barlow Hut was installed on the Makaroro River, while its twin, Sunrise Hut, was...
Makaretu
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
8 Bunk hut Southern branch Makaretuu river. Visit as part of a circuit from moorcock saddle including Longview and Awatere huts
Takapari A Frame Hut / Travers Hut / Traverse Hut (Ruahine)
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Travers (6 bunks, no matresses) is a very basic A-frame hut on the Takapari Road in the Southern Ruahines. There's a concrete floor and wooden sleeping platform and not much else. It's damp and d...
Ngamoko Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Ngamoko Hut (6 bunks, stove, river water) is a pleasent hut located in scrub on the western bank of the Pohongina River at its confluence with Apiti Creek. The location gets morning and midday sun...
Triple X hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 12.
Nice hut for camps, families etc
Only 15 min from road end with alot of space for camping etc
Waipawa Forks Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 12.
A bit rough considering it's a newer DOC hut - vandalism in the bunkroom on the right. 5 minutes up a steep track on the true right of the Waipawa River. Water can be found a little further up the...
Parks Peak Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Parks Peak Hut (6 bunk, stove, tank water) is a new DoC hut on a cleared flat on the ridgeline east of the Makaroro. On a good day it should give amazing views out over the Ohara Valley, Guarvas R...
Triangle Hut
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 6.
6 bunk hut in the Oroua river catchment. On a raised terrace above the river. Water from the river, pot belly stove faces the setting sun.
Iron Gate Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
Iron Gate Hut (sleeps 8, stove, stream water) sits on the beech-forested banks of the Oroua River. It's a comfortable hut, with two sleeping platforms, a large table, benches and all you'd expect. ...
Top Maropea Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
A gem of an old NZFS hut built in the 60s or 70s for deer cullers, this hut is a bit drafty, however, lovely. Westerlies rip through the area, but it offers stunning views to the east of the Ruahi...
Waikamaka Bivouac (derelict)
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC).
Waikamaka biv is derelict and overgrown, but it is still standing. Just across the stream from Waikamaka Hut.
Smiths Stream Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
On Smith Stream, Ruahine Forest Park. This is a good example of NZFS 4-bunk hut in original condition.
Rockslide Hut / Biv
Hut
• Basic Hut/Bivvy (DOC). Capacity: 4.
A dog-box bivvy on Apias creek, with a full height shelter tacked on the door gable-end wall. The bivvy sleeps two, and the shelter has 1 set of bunks for two more. Water is from the creek 50m awa...
Sentry Box Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
A typical Ruahine 4-bunker forestry hut 5 mins form the bushedge on the Mangleton Road. The short walk from the road is made up for by the epic drive required to get to the end of Mangleton Road - ...
Mid Pohangina Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 4.
Mid Pohangina Hut sits on a pleasant grassy flat just above the Pohangina River north of its confluence with Cattle Creek. It's a comfortable, welcoming hut with a warm fire. Popular with hunters ...
Kelly Knight Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 8.
Quite close to the park boundary in the Pourangaki River. Situated in a lovely clearing on a terrace above the river
Diane's Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Diane's Hut (sleeps 6, wood burning stove, firewood available in locality, stream water) is located on a stony bench just above the Koau Stream. The valley sides are canyonous, and the hut at firs...
Duck Pond Hut
Hut
• Private hut (PVT). Capacity: 2.
A 2-bunk hut on private land, just outside the Ruahine forest park. This hut lies in the upper reaches of the Ngamoko catchment.
The hut is spacious for a 2-bunker - standing room and a bench do...
Standfield Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
Standfield (Stanfield) Hut (6 bunks, woodburing stove, tank water, firewood available in locality) is a comfortable riverside hut on the upper reaches of the Tamaki River, west branch.
Access vi...
Broome Hut
Hut
• Standard Hut (DOC). Capacity: 6.
This hut is in the main street of Ongaonga, at the DOC field centre. It used to be in Ruahine FP, near Big Hill station.
Hut categories
- Great Walks Hut
- Well appointed DOC hut on one of the nine Great Walks. Great Walks pass required, bookings may be required. Facilities typically include toilets, heating, water, and bunks with mattresses. Some huts will have lighting, gas cooking, and a DOC ranger.
- Serviced Hut
- Larger, high standard hut. Many serviced huts have a booking system and must be booked in advance. Other huts require a back country hut pass or 3 hut tickets. Mostly owned by DOC. Facilities typically include a toilet, open fire or wood burner, water supply, and bunks with mattresses.
- Serviced Alpine Hut
- Alpine hut owned by DOC or clubs such as NZAC. Generally no heating. Payment varies. Facilities typically include a toilet, water supply, and bunks with mattresses.
- Standard Hut
- Typical DOC hut. Back country hut pass / 1 hut ticket required, no bookings. Facilities typically include a toilet, open fire or wood burner, and bunks with mattresses.
- Basic Hut/Bivvy
- Small DOC huts of 2-6 bunks. No fees or bookings. Facilities typically include a toilet and bunks with mattresses.
In general, food and cooking equipment is not available at huts. See DOC and NZAC websites for details of pricing and booking.
Campsite categories
- Great Walks Campsite
- Campsites are available on most Great Walks, usually next to huts. Great Walks pass required, bookings may be required. Toilets, water supply. No use of hut facilities not available.
- Serviced, Scenic, or Standard Campsite
- Accessible by car or boat, and offering a range of facilities.
- Basic Campsite
- Accessible by car or boat, but with minimal facilities. No fees or bookings. Toilet, water may be from stream.
- Backcountry Campsite
- Walk-in access. Fees vary. No bookings. Toilet, water may be from stream.