Child friendly rating: 5 stars

Distance: 1km

Signposted time: 30 mins from boat jetty

Bookings Required? Yes

Suitable in Winter? Yes

Camping Available? Yes - on other side of island at set aside campsites right on beachfront

4wd required? No

Parking:

Park in Lyttelton out of the way if you'll be staying overnight and are heading over by ferry.

The track:

It is nice and wide the whole way. You can easily get a stroller to the hut. It is uphill, but it's not too rough.

Once you're here, make sure you leave enough time for exploring the island.

The island has had major mouse issues in the past. Camping can sometimes be a better option if you're worried about mice.

Kayaking: This hut is accessible by boat, so you can kayak over. This is honestly great fun if you can get your hands on a kayak or packraft and makes for a very exciting trip. People normally paddle from Lyttelton or Cass Bay, but paddling from Charteris Bay is better with kids. It’s a shorter paddle (but longer drive) in shallower water, plus you don’t have to worry about the big boats on the Lyttelton side. It's about 2km to paddle from here.

There’s a great boat ramp to launch from with toilets and a carpark at Charteris Bay. Don’t launch from the beaches as it’s very muddy and you’ll probably get stuck!! Plus with the tide you may not be able to return to your car without a boggy walk carrying the kayak if you don't launch from a jetty.

Wind usually picks up in the afternoon, so it's often better to paddle there first thing in the morning, and then leave first thing in the morning too.

When we paddled here, our 15mo was quite restless - he wanted to keep sticking his hands and feet in the water! So I focused on holding him and helping him safely touch the water while hubby did the bulk of the paddling. We occasionally swapped, and Miss 5 also helped paddle. We landed and camped at Whakamaru Beach. Check out the image for the route we took. Orange was on the way there, and blue was on the way back (it was much gustier on the way back) you could also follow the shallows to the south west of the routes we took.

Safety wise, you really need to keep an eye on the wind forecast. It was 30km/hr gusts on the way back, and I definitely wouldn’t have risked higher winds with the kids as it was quite choppy. I use windy.com to check the wind levels. Under 20km/hr gusts is what you’re ideally looking for, and paddling first thing after breakfast, arriving no later than just before noon is usually good, however on the odd occasion, wind levels are higher in the morning, and die down as the day progresses. Be aware.

Camping: The camping options are either on Whakamaru Beach, or Skiers Beach. You must book these via the DOC booking system too.

Recommendations: This is a great first hut to visit, as the walk in is very very short, so you don't need to have the best or most lightweight gear - if needed, you can leave your gear where you get off the boat, and then come back in multiple trips. You can also kayak over, so this makes a great fun way to get over here for a different kind of trip.

In summertime, camping can be a more fun option as you can be right on the beach, however the campsite toilets are long drops, not flushing.