If you’re thinking of coming to New Zealand and getting out and enjoying some of our fantastic national parks, there are a few things you might want to know about the unwritten laws of cabin etiquette.
First, let’s go over what our cabins look like so you have a better idea of ​​why some of these rules exist.

Cabins in New Zealand range from tiny two-berth cabins to colossal 50-berth cabins with a resident warden, solar lights and gas heating. Fortunately, most of the cabins you’ll find will have a bit more character than these mountain monsters.

As a rule, Kiwi huts contain one or two rooms with bunk beds, a common cooking and eating area, which doubles as a living room, and an outside bathroom, usually a long drop, but there are toilets for the people next to it. they don’t like the smell after about 1000 other people who have been there before them.
Drinking water is usually from an outside tap which is fed from a water tank which is normally filled with rainwater or filled via a local stream. Keep in mind that the water from these sources is almost always safe to drink without treatment, as is most of the water from the streams you will pass along the way.

Now, some simple rules that can make your stay in one of our mountain palaces a peaceful and harmonious experience.

Rule 1. Boots. It is a general rule of thumb to remove your boots before entering a hut to help keep the floor clean and dry and to keep some clutter on the floor. It’s also a bad idea to get up at dawn and walk into a cabin full of sleeping hikers, leading to an uncomfortable rustling of sleeping bags and some muttered profanity as the weary hikers are woken from their sleep by their impression of a herd of elephants. !

Rule 2. Continuing with the subject of noise – Snoring. Oh yeah, the ever-present human rendition of a Mack truck going down a steep hill with the air brakes on! There’s not much you can do about it, but if you know you’re a snoring machine, you might want to consider bringing a tent or be prepared for some dirty looks in the morning. But if you’re like me and pretty sure you don’t snore, a pair of earplugs is one of the best investments you’ll ever make. A couple of bucks spent at the local drugstore on some of these wonderful inventions will allow you to sleep soundly while the rest of the cabin’s occupants have one of the worst dreams imaginable.

Rule 3. Noise seems to be a recurring theme in these rules, but when you have up to 20 strangers sharing the same space, the chance of a bit of friction is high. Grocery bags. The people who invented this stuff obviously didn’t think about the fact that at 6am in a cabin in the country, when a fellow hiker is packing up his gear and whispering about one of these plastic abominations, he’s creating a noise that can pierce even the deepest sleep. So please try to find a replacement grocery bag or pack your plastic bags the night before so you can quietly leave the cabin and leave the rest of your fellow hikers fast asleep while you make your early morning escape. morning.

Rule 4. Now seriously. 99% of our cabins require you to bring your own gas cooker and since most of us enjoy a warm beer and a steaming plate of hot food for dinner, a kitchen is a must-have piece of equipment. A few simple rules will ensure your safety and the safety of the rest of the people in the cabin. Try to keep the area around your kitchen free of combustible materials and try to use the metal-topped benches provided in the cabin. If you have a liquid fuel stove and need to refuel, do so outside and away from open flames. The same rule applies to canister gas stoves as well.
Make sure you have adequate ventilation while cooking, especially in some of our smaller cabins, as there is a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if there is not enough fresh air while your kitchen is in use.
Make sure you know the location of the fire extinguishers and emergency exits provided. Not all of our cabins have fire extinguishers, so please be careful when using stoves or the fireplaces provided.

Rule 5. Disorder. The simple practice of keeping all your gear in a neat stack or just a stack will keep the cabin nice and tidy and ensure that during your early morning start you don’t leave important pieces of gear behind such as sleeping bags (I’ve seen one happen before).

Rule 6. The Department of Conservation has been kind enough to equip many of our cabins with potbellied stoves or fireplaces and in some cases where there is a cabin that has a large number of visitors, DOC will provide firewood for the cabin. . When wood for the fire is salvaged from the surrounding forest, it is important that we only use dead wood from the forest floor.

These are just some of the unwritten rules regarding the use of cabins in the New Zealand outback. These cabins are an amazing resource for everyone to use so please enjoy them and enjoy your New Zealand National Parks experience.

Just one more thing, pay your cabin fees by purchasing your cabin tickets at your local Department of Conservation office. Most cabins are just NZ$10 per night and if you are going to be staying in New Zealand for a while it may be worth buying a cabin pass which gives you unlimited cabin nights for just NZ$95 a year, which It’s a great value, and the money from these fees goes toward upkeep of the cabins.

Happy hiking/walking/bushwalking/trekking!