Huts - untold stories from back-country New Zealand
If huts could talk . . .
they could tell the whole history of the back country. Of Scottish shepherds fleeing the Highland clearances. Of the flush and fury of goldminers seeking their fortune in Central Otago. Of the patient and poorly paid boundary keepers, musterers, water-racemen and roadmen who lived in tiny huts in the shadow of huge landscapes. There are over 1500 huts in New Zealand, and this book is the untold story of some of the more memorable of them. Every hut has a story to tell. Shutes Hut was built by Alex Shute, a rabbiter who lost himself in the Ruahine back country for more than 20 years. Freemans Hut was part of Les Murrell's vision for a tourist track in the Fiordland mountains. Sefton Biv is a lonely climbers' Eyrie in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, and Blowfly Hut is a snug roadmen's refuge in South Westland.
This book is a celebration of the endurance of huts and the men who built and lived in them. It is a fascinating look at the place of these iconic dwellings in New Zealand's social and mountain history. Many New Zealanders have enjoyed the refuge of the humble back-country hut. They may be only iron, nails and wood, but they are a living treasury. This is their story.
Published: 1st edition 2010
Author: Mark Pickering
Review as featured in The Climber magazine
Mark Pickering was born in England but took root in New Zealand, and has a physical and emotional commitment to the hills developed over 30 years. He's explored many forgotten landscapes, holed up in solitary old musterers' huts, and mulled over the remnants of people who lived on and worked the land decades before.The back country is an open-air book of history. Twenty walking and tramping guidebooks on, Mark still finds himself still looking at each place he visits with fresh eyes. He has made his living out of the mountains, and counts himself lucky that he never passed that bank manager's exam. Mark lives in Christchurch with his partner, Rachel Barker, and their daughter Alexandra.
