A Bunk for the Night

Since beginning to tramp as teenager in the Kaweka and Ruahine ranges, SHAUN BARNETT has tramped the length and breadth of New Zealand, including a piecemeal traverse of the Southern Alps from St Arnaud to Milford Sound. Shaun co-wrote the Montana Award-winning Classic Tramping in New Zealand (with Rob Brown) along with several other best-selling guidebooks. Shelter from the Storm: The story of New Zealand's backcountry huts (with Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint) won the New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award in 2013. His most recent book Tramping: A New Zealand history, co-authored with Chris Maclean, was long-listed for the 2016 Ockham Book Awards. GEOFF SPEARPOINT began tramping in the Tararuas, spending his first night in a hut (Cone) during 1966 when he was 15. He joined the Hutt Valley Tramping Club and later the New Zealand Alpine Club (and is now a life member of both) following a passion of transalpine tramping and climbing trips. Prior to coauthoring Shelter from the Storm, Geoff wrote Walking to the Hills, various articles for club journals and Wilderness magazine, edited Moir's Guide North, co-authored The Canterbury Westland Alps and contributed a chapter to Wild Heart. A member of the Peninsula Tramping Club, Geoff lives in his own hut at Birdlings Flat on the Canterbury Coast. ROB BROWN has been tramping and climbing throughout New Zealand for over 25 years. A co-author of Shelter from the Storm and Classic Tramping in New Zealand, Rob also authored Rakiura: The Wilderness of Stewart Island and New Zealand: The Essential Landscape. His photographs also feature in many calendars including his own Wild Landscapes calendar, which has been published annually for well over a decade. Rob lives with his family in Wanaka.