A couple, ready to bed in for the night, were stunned to find a Department of Conservation hut in Tararua Forest Park in the Wairarapa had been turned into a brewery.
Lorraine Freeman and her husband had booked to stay in the DOC-owned Roaring Stag Hut and when they arrived, were shocked to find that a man had turned the premises into a brewery, using water from the nearby river to brew large bottles of beer, Stuff reports.
The 12 bunk hut was also going to be home to eight of the man's "mates" that night as they planned to enjoy a few freshly brewed pints together.
"You wouldn't be allowed to brew beer at the local town park, so why would it be OK to do it in a national park?" said Mrs Freeman.
She said the "nice, young American" man had told her he was having a few mates over and that DOC had paid him a visit and had no problem with him being there.
Mrs Freeman said she thought this to be "very odd".
DOC confirmed that a ranger had passed by the hut and found the man did have a current annual hut pass and had found him to be "personable and friendly."
"While we certainly wouldn't encourage this behaviour, our ranger made a call that, from what he witnessed, the man wasn't bothering other users at that time," said DOC's Wairarapa operations manager, Kathy Koukamau,
If the man had moved into the hut, rangers would have taken action.
According to Mrs Freeman, about eleven people decided not to stay in the hut that night when they found out about that night’s planned beer-fest.
According to DOC, bad behaviour amongst visitors to their huts is uncommon.
"Incidences of behaviour contradictory to DOC's Hut User Code are extremely rare. There is a great spirit of respect and tolerance among those who use New Zealand's hut network, and appreciation of this fantastic resource and the need to preserve it for future generations,” said DOC products standards and policies manager Chris Bowen
He said there were 190,000 hut bookings each year, 40 per cent of which were made by international visitors.
He encouraged visitors who witnessed any concerning behaviour or misuse of huts to report these online via DOC's website, its hotline, or let its visitor centre staff know.
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