The Warden

NZ Department of  Conservation (DOC) hiking huts each have a manager or warden.  These folks (male and female) look after their patch -- buildings and track-- and account for their 40 trampers, making sure everyone has signed in and is not lost on the trail.   The wardens also impart hut protocol to their newbie groups. 

 Apres hike meal at the Clinton hut.  We, of course, tidied this area to the warden's standards.

A mandatory and invariably entertaining "hut talk" at 8 pm covers the basics:  fire safety, clean-up procedures in the kitchen and bunk rooms,  track highlights for the next day, and an all important weather update.  (We learned that day two would be rainy, clearing in the afternoon.)

Each warden also has special knowledge to impart. Peter, our Clinton hut warden, told us all about the stoat and rat traps on the track, complete with stuffed stoat and rat props.  (Stoats, rats, possums and mice --all introduced species--are a menace to native birds.  Trapping these pests is a national pastime. )

Peter also seemed to have specialized knowledge of every porta-potty on the trail and offered further instruction about what to do when these facilities were not available.  Yikes.  Whatever would we learn from the Hut Warden on day two?

The little orange arrow is an indicator that a trap is nearby, and there it is!.