Historic trampers hut on the move again

One of New Zealand's oldest recreational huts is set to be moved for the fifth time in almost 100 years.

The latest move for the Hooker Hut in the Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park will see it become a shelter at Hooker Lake, The Timaru Herald reported today.

Sections of the existing Hooker Valley track were due to be upgraded in spring next year, with the hut due to be shifted in 2008 to be used as a shelter at the end of the track.

Construction of the hut began in September 1910 and is closely associated with the development of mountaineering, a pursuit which began in the Mt Cook region 30 years earlier.

It is the fifth oldest recreational hut in New Zealand, and is included in the Historic Places Register of the Canterbury Conservancy.

Department of Conservation visitor assets programme manager Erik VanderSpek said the hut would be lifted by helicopter to its new site once the upgrading work on the Hooker Track was complete.

- NZPA