Child friendly rating: 5 stars

Distance: 9km (Or drive to with a 4WD)

Signposted time: 2-3 hours (Or 0)

Bookings Required? No

Suitable in Winter? Yes

Camping Available? Yes plenty on flats below the hut

4wd required? If you want to drive all the way to hut door then yes, otherwise no.

Parking:

You can either park in the 2WD carpark at the sign along Lake Ohau Road.

Or you can drive your 2WD as far along the road as you feel comfortable. You should be able to drive around 1km further along the 4WD road, and then just park off the road.

With a 4WD you can drive all the way to the hut, however you will need a high clearance 4WD, and a small amount of 4WD driving skills. There are sections which are deeply rutted out, and sections where you can bypass more worn sections of track by going through the river instead. None are too deep, but a low clearance 4WD will likely not make it the whole way.

We did see some lower clearance 4WD and 4WD who were obviously not comfortable going through certain sections parked up on the side of the track along the way.

You can also jetboat all the way to the hut.

The Track:

If walking, the walk along the 4WD track is easy and straightforward. There are a couple of small creek crossings, but you can mainly avoid wet feet. The deeply rutted sections of track are easily avoided on foot.

The track is exposed to the hot sun the whole way so can be unpleasant in the height of summertime.

Allow 3.5-4 hours with kids from the 2WD carpark.

Hut:

The hut is older, but still tidy. It can be popular with hunters & 4WDers, but looking at the hut book it doesn't seem to fill up often.

There's a lot to explore near the hut - the campsites on the flats below the hut, the bush to play in, the old firepits near the campsites, the river with some shallower sections for playing and swimming. Just beware the sandflies.

Recommendations:

Coming via 2WD and then walking, this is a great easy track to do with kids. If they get bored easily you may want to pick something shorter and harder or more varied though.

Via 4WD it's worth taking the kids further up the valley to Huxley Forks Hut, though this is a much harder track and would be best done with kids who've done a few hikes already.