Author(s): Shaun Barnett & Rob Brown & Geoff Spearpoint

NZ Photography

One of the defining and unique features of the New Zealand outdoors is the backcountry hut. New Zealand has a remarkably diverse network of these huts, unparalleled anywhere else in the world, and for those who venture into our wild places there is often a passionate attachment to these humble structures. Shelter from the Storm is a landmark publication, the first wide-ranging history of our hut network. The authors provide an overview of who built the huts – tramping and mountaineering clubs, the Department of Internal Affairs, Lands and Survey, New Zealand Forest Service, Park Boards and DOC – as well as why they were built, which includes farming, mining, tourism, tramping and climbing, hunting and deer culling, science and as monuments. For each of these sections the authors profile a wide range of representative huts, and recount the fascinating stories that invariably surround them. This is a wonderful book, meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated with a huge range of historic and contemporary photographs. Its significance and appeal is far-reaching, as this is a subject that has a genuine resonance with many, many New Zealanders.