D'urville Hut - Remote Backcountry Shelters on Waymarking.com

This hut situated at the head of Lake Rotoroa in the Nelson Lakes is possibly one of the more quieter huts to visit in this area. Beginning at Rotoroa Village at the head of the Gowan River and the bottom of the lake there is several options available as to how you want to get to this hut. Firstly is walking. I have not done this walk but I am lead to believe that it is a walk from hell in that it can take 6 to 9 hrs depending on the condition of the track which I understand is not kept at it's best. This is possibly why this hut is not used as much as it could be. Another means of getting to this hut is via the water taxi service that runs from Rotoroa and will take you to the head of the lake for a price - a price that I think is far to expensive. I think it could possibly be cheaper to charter a light aircraft from Nelson and parachute out over the hut. The other option, if you have it available to you and the means by which I accessed this hut was to canoe to it. I had an open canoe and myself and another thought we would do a trip to the D'urville hut in it. For this we obviously had to pick our weather and times. The canoe trip cost us 5 hours or so with a few stops along the way. It is quite a long lake, more than it is wide. We done this trip in the height of summer and I have to say that the downside to this was the unbelievable amount of wasps in the bush. We stayed close to the west side of the lake and 50 - 100 metres out from shore all the way up the lake you could hear the bush humming with wasps. When we pulled in for breaks it tended to be short stops as they soon started to try and swarm you. It cost me a couple of stings non-the-less. Anyway after reaching the hut we found it to be a pleasant and comfortable hut of moderate usage with sleeping pads for 10 people and a wood burner stove that you have to fuel yourself. The lake itself is quite picturesque but there was a bit of traffic on the lake with boats going to and from the Sabine Hut on the opposite (East) side of the Lake at the head. The Durville River flows in on the west side of the head of the lake and has some Fly Fishing potential although on this trip it didn't hand me any fish on a platter. Worth the visit depending on how you want to get there and if you do go - then leave the hut in better conditiion than when you found it.

Available year-round Hunters often in area Compass & Topographical Map Suggested / Required Approx 6 - 9 Hrs walk Wear bug repellant!

Type of shelter: hut Sleeps How Many: 10 Reservation required: No Cost: Less than $10 Available Year Round: Yes Enclosed: Enclosed Stay overnight: Not listed

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   02/19/2006 Q moto visited it

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