Andrew Buglass created the Remote Huts website in 2003 because he was concerned about the poor condition and ongoing lack of maintenance of a large number of remote high-country huts in central Westland. His highly-recommended site profiles 47 high-country huts and bivouacs, aiming to help ensure their preservation and continued maintenance. In addition to raising public awareness it provides constantly updated details on hut, track and route conditions.
An online group called Permolat was established along with the site. This aims to coordinate the efforts of remote hut users in hands-on preservation and maintenance activities for the more at-risk structures, or those not fully maintained by DOC.
Andrew gave an excellent talk to the club on Thursday 22 January 2008. He explained the history of the site and the Permolat group and showed lots of great photos. His talk is available here (1.6 MB).