• Excellent setting, but not so easy to get up there. | Dog Kennel Bivvy, Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park
  • The mature beech tree just missed the hut. | Dog Kennel Bivvy, Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park
  • No mattresses and plenty of ventilation. | Dog Kennel Bivvy, Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park
  • Low flying door and roof. | Dog Kennel Bivvy, Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park

tramping new zealand

45 almost epic adventures on the South Island & Rakiura

Dog Kennel Bivvy | Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park

This might be a bit of a mission if you don’t recognise your need to climb above the gorge. See if you can recognise a vague trail through the forest immediately after a big scree slope with evidence of people/animals coming down. You need to climb above the treeline, and follow an almost discernable trail to the end of the gorge.

Has some 1943 deer cullers’ graffiti above the door.

No platform to sleep on. No mattress. Just a bunch of closed-cell mats and a black polythene sheet. Dirt floor. No windows.

Simply full-on character. Not far removed from an actual dog kennel.

+++++horizontal rule+++++

category . . . basic huts/bivvies

hut fee . . . free

elevation . . . 875 m

bunks . . . nope

built . . . early 1940s

heating . . . none

water . . . 30 m walk to Black Birch Creek

toilet . . . none