Tramping Accommodation

Any real tramp involves an overnight stop for some well-deserved sleep.  Accommodation options include the following:

Out in the Open

This option is only for those who are either lost or insane.  Who would willingly sleep outside at night when there are giant mossies about -- not to mention wind, rain, and opossums?  Trampers should be prepared to spend a night out in the open in the event of misadventure though, so a warm sleeping bag and something to keep it dry are a good idea.

Pros

• No need to pitch a tent or suffer out in the rain.
• Usually there's a toilet of some sort.

Cons

The Toilet

• Don't you think you'd rather dig your own hole than use that smelly fly-blown box?

The Fireplace

Every DOC hut is equipped with a fireplace to let in the draught and occasionally the rain.  Inside it one finds the tin cans and other rubbish from the previous trampers.  The firewood is lying outside in the rain -- soggy and rotting logs some generous soul has scraped together out of the bush.  Aside from an old toilet seat or a loose plank on the door, the well-prepared tramper must rely on his own supplies for kindling.  Consequently, one is obliged to resort to the fuel in the unmarked bottle to get the fire going.  After the resulting detonation has removed ones eyebrows, the hut fills up with a warm aromatic smoke which enlivens the damped spirits within unto fits of coughing.

Hut Companions

• Mice.  They don't eat much, but they make the food a lot less appetising.  Also, the droppings on the mattresses are not very nice.
• Greenies.  These are a strange lot.  They wear green-and-purple striped tights and odd looking fibre pile hats, and all they want to talk about is conservation issues like hut maintenance and funding schemes, bush regeneration, and DOC policies.
• Mountaineers, hunters, and other hard-core outdoor types.  These guys are alright as far as they go, but all their getting up early and energetic 12-hour climbs make one feel guilty.

Tents Even if a tramper is counting on using the DOC huts, he should always have a tent just-in-case.  But for some, the tent is the preferred accommodation. Pros Stay where you like. Cons A tent adds at least 3kg to the weight of some poor sucker's pack. Pitching and packing tents in the rain is a miserable business. Good camping spots are often hard to find.  The following are some of the "Must Try" camping spots we personally recommend: Wind-swept saddles, Rocky river beds (it turns out these are very cold on frosty mornings), Paddocks with noisy farm animals (for bonus points, pitch tent at night, on a damp cow pat), Alongside a muddy swamp (use for drinking water, or billy tea), On top of a muddy swamp.

Tents are not always easy to pitch.

Blowing out the cobwebs.  And any stray bits of down.  And the whole sleeping bag if I'm careless. Don't believe the sales brochures that tell you your tent will sleep four.  Or two.  Or even one.