• The PVC verandah covering is getting ragged. | Maclennan Hut, Catlins Conservation Park, Otago
  • Two mattresses on the bunks. And a long bench. | Maclennan Hut, Catlins Conservation Park, Otago
  • A good outlook. | Maclennan Hut, Catlins Conservation Park, Otago
  • The PVC verandah covering is very red. | Maclennan Hut, Catlins Conservation Park, Otago

tramping new zealand

45 almost epic adventures on the South Island & Rakiura

Maclennan Hut | Catlins Conservation Park

Maclennan Hut is another DOC biodiversity support hut, now used for trapping and monitoring orange-crowned parakeets and other birds, although it is older than the other Catlins huts. (Maclennan is the correct spelling, as it was named after the first European settler in the area with this name.)

A beautiful walk through mature silver beach forest, but you get your feet wet crossing McLennan River once you’ve spotted the hut across the clearing.

A compact two-bunk hut with no heating. It does feature plenty of windows to notice your isolation.

You need permission to cross private land to get to the start of the Thisbe Valley Track and MacLennan Hut. Contact: Josh Carins 027 534 3866

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category . . . basic huts/bivvies

hut fee . . . free

booking . . . not required

elevation . . . 220 m

bunks . . . 2 mattresses in bunks

built . . . relocated there in 2006, then extended

heating . . . none

water . . . from the stream, 60 m each way

toilet . . . longdrop, more than 60 m away!