Casey Hut with a kiddo + a side trip to Lake Minchin

There were 4 of us: Emma, Anna, Elliot (12 months old) and I. I did mentioned a couple of times that Casey Hut may be too big of a bite to chew but I was outnumbered. So here it’s how it went:

  • Anna was carrying Mr Elliot in MacPac Possum with spare nappies and a few bits and bobs. I carried stuff for all 3 of us and Emma was carrying 1 person tent “just in case”.
  • The weather forecast wasn’t too good but not too bad. Maybe a few mm of rain but warm air and not much wind. We started off at Binser Saddle carpark from where we quickly gained good elevation height. The first decent break was actually at Binser Saddle! Oh man, the hardest bit was behind us in no time! I actually started to believe that we’ll manage to do the whole thing.
  • Anna had sore shoulders so I took the baby and a frontpack (around 12 kg) plus my pack (another 15 kg) and descended down to Poulter River. I was quite surprised how good I felt as I normalle struggle to carry anything over 20 kg. Maybe I was running on adrenaline…
  • The rest of the journey to Casey Hut was on a flat ground. However once at the hut, Anna said she’s very happy to be there. There was already 6 people in the hut. Oh well – fortunately we had a “just in case” tent.
  • I took a matress from the hut, pitched the “just in case tent” and put the mattress in. I slept there with Elliot. This was his second night in a tent (the first one was a loooong time ago so he likely didn’t remember it) and he did so well. Though he did cry for life for the first 30 minutes but after that he slept until 6 AM which was fabulous.
  • The second day, I did a side trip with Emma to Lake Minchin. Easy track but quite long actually, it took us more or less all day to get there and back. The group of 6 from Case Hut left for Poulter Hut so we decided to stay in Casey Hut this time – all of us including Elliot. This time the night wasn’t as smooth… Elliot went nuts at night, screaming the hut down to it’s concrete foundations and even to the pressured gravel underneath and maybe even lower. Unimpressed Emma took a mattress outside at around 6 AM. I guess this didn’t help to convince her that kids are fun.
  • The way back to the cars was okay but a bit longer that we wished for. Emma got a sore foot and Anna sore shoulders. I carried Elliot for a few kilometers to unload Anna’s tired body. At the end I sprinted to Andrews Shelter and jogged around 3 km along the road to bring the car back from Binser Saddle carpark. Emma, Elliot and Anna came right when I came back with our car.
  • It was really epic trip. Definitely fun type 2 as Elliot pushes all types of fun by a full grade. I do think that Elliot enjoyed it heaps though, he was so observant of his surroundings! I’m excited about taking him out again but yeah, this times on something with less walking and more resting.

Rough stats: 

Binser carpark – Casey Hut: 8 hours

Case Hut – Lake Minchin: 4h there, 3h back

Lake Minchin – Andrews Shelter: 8 hours

Tramped between 21st-24th November 2021.

Some photos

About the Author

Michal
I lived a pretty ordinary life for a while. I did my studies, my second studies, my third studies, my first job, my second job, and my third job. I wasn’t really sure what’s going on so, in 2014, I left my home country (Czechia) to learn about the world. I’m still not sure what’s going on but I enjoy it much more. I lived in a few countries before settling in New Zealand.

2 Comments on "Casey Hut with a kiddo + a side trip to Lake Minchin"

  1. Only other people’s kids are fun!

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