Chaffeys Hut

I loved this little stub of candle that was in the kitchen of the Chaffeys Hut where 13 of the walking group tramped to today. I even felt like a tramper as we passed quite a few of them coming and going in Kahurangi National Park with big packs on.
We drove for 2 hours from Motueka, over the Takaka Hill and into the Cobb Valley on a very windy road.  We started at Trilobite Hut ( so named because fossils were found here) and walked through bush and grassland, up hill and down dale for one and a half hours each way.14kms in total.  The hut was built in 1953 and originally named Hannahs Creek hut which it stands by. At some stage the name was changed as Chaffeys Stream also nearby. Chaffey and his wife are a part of the legend of the area living and mining asbestos and hiding away from society in the remote mountains.
The hut has been refurbished by the Golden Bay Deerstalkers  Assoc using nearby windfall beech as the outside wall battens. See extra.There are bunks for four, a fire place, and a table. It is tiny but cosy.
A weka came poking around at lunchtime, another extra, and we saw NZ robin, an opossum, lots of copper butterflies and a dragonfly plus several wildflowers and berries. There were also trout in the stream.