Eleven Mid Canterbury deer hunters were airlifted into the high country for a weekend’s DIY recently.
The volunteers’ tasks were to repair three high country huts, which included digging a new long drop at one of them.
The six-bunk facilities of Watchdog Hut and McCoy Hut, and the Lawrence bivouac, are part of a nationwide network of Department of Conservation huts providing shelter in the outdoors.
Project co-ordinator Kelvin Williams of the Ashburton branch of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association said nine members from the branch had the help of two from the organisation’s Rakaia branch.
They met at Mt Potts Station, before they and slingloads of gear and building materials were flown in by helicopter to the huts, located in the headwaters of the Rangitata River, in the Clyde and Lawrence valleys.
‘‘It was a great team effort. We were very lucky with the weather, the nor’west come up a bit, but luckily not too strong,’’ Williams said.
‘‘It’s good to keep these huts nice and up to date. They are a great facility for not just hunters, but also trampers and climbers.’’
At Watchdog Hut, the volunteers replaced the old roof and windows, painted inside and out, and even installed a new longdrop toilet. The latter task involved digging a hole 1.8m into rocky ground. They also replaced lead-head nails on the toilet roof with ones non-toxic to keas, refabricated and painted a meat safe, and repaired a water tank.
At McCoy Hut, they fixed a chimney leak, painted a log burner with heat resistant paint, and shined up the floor with linseed oil.
At the Lawrence Bivouac, a final two coats of paint were applied, new anchors and guy ropes were installed, while a blurry old perspex window was replaced with a double-glazed aluminium window.
The materials and helicopter time was paid for by Backcountry Trust, in conjunction with DOC.
