New Zealand has about 900 huts managed by the Department of Conservation located all over the country and available for anyone to visit and use. Hut fees vary from zero for older huts to $25/night for more modern ones. A standard hut is $15/night, but mostly there is little enforcement of fees and many people don't pay.
Last week we went to the Black Hill Hut which is in the hills that rise up from the Canterbury Plains toward the Southern Alps which form the backbone of the South Island.
The walk was challenging for me at 62 y.o. and average fitness. You first drive up a narrow and windy dirt road to the start of the track (Wharfdale Track) and then walk along what was once a route for early settlers who farmed the valley behind the foot hills, (Lees Valley).
While the track was built for packhorse with pick and shovel it was never developed later as a short route was found via a different pass. It is now just maintained as a walking and cycling track.
So for the first three hours of the tramp you follow this old packhorse track which is all a very easy grade and surrounded by regenerating native forest- the original forest was mostly cut and milled around the late 1800s until a fire destroyed what forest was left and farming became the main stay of the local economy.
Then you take a left turn off Wharfdale Track onto Fosters Ridge Track which goes up steeply and less well formed than the old packhorse track.
After three hours of quite easy walking you now face another 2-3 (it took us 4) hours up a steep ridge and over a small hill and then across a saddle to eventually arrive at the hut.
Approaching the hut the last mile or so was increasingly snow covered ground and in places you had to watch for ice. We appeared to be the first people there since snow the previous weekend as our footsteps were on otherwise virgin snow.
The hut was built in 1975- kind of a heyday era for hut building in NZ bush because of helicopters being able to drop of the heavy stuff like stoves, cement and timber. It has been renovated in recent years and is in amazing condition.
Once arriving about 4pm (its dark by 5pm here this time of year) my first priority is always check out the firewood supply. It was good, and there was a good sharp saw there as well so I cut a bit more before sundown and got the old woodstove lit for the long cold night ahead.
The next morning we took a hike up to the top of Black Hill (the hut is just a short distance below it to avoid the worst of the wind and to be below the treeline - where there is firewood, I guess) and the view was amazing. You can see far to the north south and across into the Southern Alps. From that hilltop I could spy many of the other tramps we have done in the area- Mts Richardson, Thomas and Grey and Lees Valley, Pinchgut Hut and Avoca Huts.
Coming back to the hut I spend an hour cutting Birch for firewood - enough for the next night and to leave
some behind. Reading the hut book it looked like the hut is vacant maybe 60% of the time- although some people may not record their visits. Of those who did record their stay there about half, maybe less appeared to have paid their hut fees. It is effectively voluntary to pay or not.
Blackhill Hut is perhaps the nicest hut I have visited in recent years being classic old style but also renovated and free of rats/mice which is uncommon for older huts. The view from the top of the hill is worth the extra 30-40 minutes walking. Staying in the hut for a day before walking out the next day was also well worth it and we had the hut to ourselves which is increasingly rare as more and more people use these huts.
You can see all the huts on this map of NZ- it is possible to walk from one end of the country to the other more or less via the huts and tracks that connect them.