Zachary Fleming has built a website that shows which huts have bunks available.
Earlier this year, Zachary Fleming had a yearning to get into the backcountry. Opening the DOC website, he searched for a hut with bunk availability for the coming weekend.
“It turned out to be almost impossible to plan,” he said. “The DOC booking system is built around already knowing which hut you want. You pick a hut, then check availability. There’s no way to flip it around to check what’s free on the days you want to go tramping.”
To fix this issue he built the website dochutfinder.com, where users can pick when they want to go tramping and see which bookable DOC huts have availability.
Also in this week’s outdoor news: Hiker reunited with backpack 60 years after he fell into a glacier, Japan using AI drones and wolf robots to keep bears at bay, FENZ urges New Zealanders to prepare for elevated wildfire risk this summer and more!
Missed yesterday’s feature? This high-performing sleeping bag impresses our gear editor as a great all-rounder.
Top reads
Take a look at this week's most read articles at wildernessmag.co.nz.
Featured Book
Bushline – A memoir
Robbie Burton is a tramper, mountain-lover and book publisher, who has had a life-long infatuation with the wild places of NZ. In this memoir he recalls a childhood in which the natural world played a central part, and led to a youthful obsession with tramping, skiing and mountaineering.
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Subscriber profile of the month!
Joy Bryant’s love of tramping has taken her all over New Zealand – and the world.
Subscriber Joy Bryant says she was a “late starter” to tramping, someone who thought of herself as not very athletic. But in 1992 she hiked the Milford Track and her perspective changed.
“I realised I was hooked; tramping was something I could do and really enjoy,” she said.
“One of the many benefits of tramping has been friendships made with like-minded people from clubs and people met along the way, young and old,” Joy said.
Current Issue - Oct 2026
Circling NZ’s sleeping giant, 22 walks across private land, applications open for the 2027 Shaun Barnett Memorial Scholarship, ultralight gear reviews, gear guides, the best places for field testing your lightweight kit and dozens more stories in our latest issue.
Hut of the week 🏡
Photo: Jonty Crane
Penn Creek Hut, Tararua Forest Park
Penn Creek Hut sits in a grassy clearing near Penn Creek. It’s accessible from Ōtaki Forks either with one long day of tramping, or an easy overnight stopping at Field Hut on the way.
It’s a S70 six-bunk hut built by Forest Service builder Paul Gush in 1966 to replace an older tent camp for cullers. In February of 2023 it was painted by the ExNZFS group of Steve Elgar & Bart Guckert, who returned the hut exterior to its original orange colour.
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