A family has apologised to the Department of Conservation after being heavily criticised for over-booking a hut in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park, saying the incident was the result of miscommunication.
A volunteer Department of Conservation hut warden was appalled to find only half the beds being used at the 26-bunk Waitawheta Hut despite the computer system showing a full house.
Hedley Timbs told Wilderness magazine that when he arrived at the hut on a Saturday night in late January he was expecting well over two dozen people.
Read more: Trampers invented 12 kids to book out hut
Instead he found just three families totalling 14 people by the end of the day.