Tribulation Hut | Hakatere Conservation Park

Looks like a galvanised steel shed from a distance, and it is. Uninsulated with small windows, but it has a beautifully poured concrete floor slab and is very neat inside. These six bunks are on ply, so it’s an austere sleep, but the typical DOC mattresses provide reasonable padding.

It has a decent table and seating benches, as well as a kitchen bench. Even a toilet and a horse paddock.

It might be a shed, but it’s surprisingly well-appointed.

category . . . basic huts/bivvies

hut fee . . . free

booking . . . not required

elevation . . . 1085 m

bunks . . . 6 mattresses on bunks

built . . . 1951 is earliest graffiti seen

heating . . . none, open fire has been removed and not replaced

water . . . 40 m walk to Swift River

toilet . . . longdrop