Vaccine passes needed to enter DOC huts

No vaccine pass could have you sleeping in the woodshed if you arrive at a DOC hut.

Department of Conservation Nelson Lakes operations manager, John Wotherspoon, says hut wardens are checking vaccine passports and those that don’t have them will be kept separate from others.

“We owe it to the others to keep that separation,” he says.

In a situation where someone arrives at a hut without a pass, they may be given a mattress on the deck or in the woodshed.

“Ideally they would have a tent they could stay in,” John says. “They would also be asked to cook outside.”

John says while they thought it could be a challenging time for hut wardens, they have only had one instance where someone wasn’t eager to show their vaccine pass. They had a tent with them so there was no problem.

Being in red has seen no change from being in orange. Vaccine passes are required in all DOC huts.