HutsHuts

If huts could talk they could tell the whole history of the back country. Of Scottish shepherds who arrived in the high country with the fresh, vivid memories of the Highland Clearances. Of the flush and fury of goldminers and water-racemen in Central Otago. Of the patient and poorly paid jobs of boundary keepers, musterers and roadmen, who lived in tiny huts in the shadow of huge landscapes. There are over 1500 huts in New Zealand - an extraordinarily large number, and this book is the untold story of several. Remarkably, most of these historic huts still do the job they were built for, whether it's a pit-sawn deer cullers' hut in Urewera National Park or a tiny skiers' shack in the Craigieburn Range. Huts: Untold stories from back-country New Zealand is a celebration of the endurance of these huts and the men who built and lived in them. It is a fascinating look at the place of these iconic dwellings in New Zealand's social and mountain history.