Child friendly rating: 5 stars

Distance: 4.5km

Signposted time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Bookings Required? No

Suitable in Winter? Normally

Camping Available? Yes

4wd required? No

Parking:

Park at the carpark at the end of Matiri West Bank Road. The last section into the carpark can be rough, but our 2WD was fine.

The Track:

This track used to be a 3 hour walk on rough terrain, including a decent river crossing that sometimes flooded requiring an emergency shelter on the far side of the river.

But then the hydro scheme was built, a bridge was built, and the track to the hut was turned into a road.

And the walk to the hut became an easy 90 minute stroll. Most of the way you're walking on a big wide 4wd road. Out at the time 15 month old who'd only just started walking happily walked short sections here.

It does mean the first part of the track isn't super exciting - not as much native bush as a lot has been cleared, but it doesn't take long to get to the last section of the track which is a thinner track through some lovely bush.

And honestly the views from the hut are just amazing. This feels like a pretty good effort to reward ratio.

The walk with the 1yo walking some short bits and a couple of breaks took us almost exactly 1.5 hours - the signposted time.

Hut:

The hut has single bunks. Not too old, nice and clean, and those views from the window are amazing!

Lots of space to play on the flats just past the hut.

Recommendations:

This hut even makes a great trip while passing through with how easy it is to visit. A great stretch of the legs on a road trip.

The easy access makes it a great one to invite some friends over and have an awesome adventure.