Washbourne Hut
Washbourne Hut is a small backcountry station hut on Lake Heron Station in Canterbury, used as a first-come base while travelling the Upper Rakaia River area. It’s a basic, unserviced hut setup with a log burner and a rainwater collection system, and it has 4 bunks.
Access is on station land and isn’t set up for advance booking; use is first-come, first-served. Before heading out, request permission from the station owners/managers for crossing and staying on the property, and expect that water at the hut site can be unreliable at times—plan to carry enough drinking water or treatment capacity for your party.
In the Rakaia River valley, this hut sits alongside the 4WD route used toward other Rakaia huts; approaching on foot involves working through farm tracks and river/stream crossings in the valley corridor. It also comes up as part of multi-day hut-to-hut trips that connect with places like Reischek Hut and Banfield Hut further along the river system.