Location: Cloudesley Road, Bealey Spur. Great carpark at the bottom beside the highway.
NZTopo50 map sheet: BV20
Grid/NZTM2000 coordinates: E1483499, N5234532
The Track: 6km of tramping track to a historic musterers hut. Generally gentle uphill track. Good combo of forest and tussock travel on a very well trodden track, with a couple of lookouts, tarns and boardwalks along the way – heaps to keep kids occupied!
Adult walking time is 2.5hrs. It took Miss 4 4hrs up and 3.5hrs down.
The Hut:
6 bed historic hut. Not bookable and extremely popular. We camped, and I would generally choose to do this because the hut is very old / not insulated / bunks are not padded.
Good to know:
Very popular, we went on a random week day in summer and the hut area had 14 people camped / in the hut.
Snow definitely falls to this level in winter and would make the track very challenging for little legs.
Loose rocks on the track can be large for very small kids.
Check DoC website re updates on water supply (March 2025 there was no water available at hut or nearby stream).
Visited by: the van Gelder-Horgan family, Jan 2025.
trampingforlittlepeople 