Brian Dobbie has hit a milestone more than 50 years in the making. The Wilderness contributor and former DOC staffer has bagged his one-thousandth hut – the new Pouākai Hut in Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki. 

Dobbie celebrated with family and friends in mid-September. 

“I wanted to hang fire until I got to a special hut,” he said of his choice. “It had to be easy to reach for beginners, including my eight-year-old granddaughter. The real celebration was being able to share the occasion with all the people who matter to me.”

Dobbie, 68, had a long career with DOC and before it the Department of Lands and Survey, from 1981 until he retired in June. 

In the 90s, while compiling a hut list for DOC, he realised how many he’d been to. This prompted him to start ticking them off. He counts DOC staff huts (there are about 250) but not wardens’ huts, as well as musterers/high-country station huts. 

What are some standout moments from your time with DOC?

The years after the 1995 Cave Creek tragedy were a grim time, with a handful of us working very hard to make sure nothing like that ever happened again. My role was to develop standards and inspection processes for huts, tracks and campsites, including taking engineers and staff onsite for training. I worked on the Hut Procurement Manual with architect Ron Pynenburg; it is basically DOC’s hut design manual. All of these efforts gained additional funding for DOC, which, among other things, allowed six to eight new huts to be built each year for several years. From 1995 to the mid-2000s, the work we did made a huge difference to       backcountry recreation in New Zealand.

Why are huts important to you?

Every hut has a specific, special location where someone has decided to build it, and a story; I love the history and the culture of each one. Huts offer a place to spend the night, eat and socialise. They are places where I can experience the essence of New Zealand’s backcountry, connect with others who have gone before me, and share adventures with people I haven’t met before. Huts are a great experience and I’ve rarely had a bad one.

Can you remember the first hut you visited?

It would have been Clinton Forks Hut on the Milford Track in 1973. I walked the track with my parents and three siblings when I was 15. That trip kindled my love of tramping. 

What huts would you still like to bag?

Ivory Lake Hut – how have I not got to that? The new Liverpool Hut – I went there after the old hut was demolished but before the new one was built. Sefton Biv – my daughter and I went there on a day trip but had to turn around because of heavy snow. And plenty of others still.