Pouakai Hut summer warden Katie Spencer juggles daily duties that include cleaning toilets with walks in the Egmont National Park.

All summer Katie Spencer has been getting paid to watch the sun go down.

The third year Otago University psychology and music technology student is a DOC hut warden in the Egmont National Park and looks after the Pouakai Hut, which has an elevation of 1200 metres. It could just be one of the best student jobs there is.

Sure her daily duties include cleaning the hut, wiping down the benches, sweeping the floor, cleaning toilets, asking people their walking intentions and collecting hut tickets.

Katie Spencer Mt Taranaki summit from Pouakai tarns.

But on the upside there's the vivid sunsets when the surrounding forest takes on a burnished orange colour, the daily walks to alpine tarns, tramps to the Pouakai Summit and the bird's eye view of the Taranaki ring plain.

Because of the positioning of the hut, sunsets are better than sunrises, Spencer said.

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Katie Spencer Sunsets over the Pouakai Ranges are more spectacular than sunrises, Spencer says.

The New Plymouth woman grew up with the park at her doorstep, and has explored most of the mountain with her family.

"We went on tramps as a family, far too often for my liking but I gradually came to enjoy it."

Now her prime summer assignment sees her interacting with trampers, most of them from overseas, who stay in the hut which is part of the Taranaki Crossing.

Katie Spencer The forest takes on a burnished orange colour when the sun sets.

Visitors were generally well equipped, aware of hut etiquette, and complimentary of facilities, Spencer said.

"We get a lot of foreigners who stay in the hut, mainly from Australia, France and Germany, and not a lot of New Zealanders.

"The overseas trampers are generally surprised by the good standard of hut facilities we have, better than what is available in their own countries where there could be just a three - sided shelter.

STUFF Pouakai Hut is a popular overnight stay on Egmont National Park for trampers.

"They seem to understand about being considerate to others in the hut especially keeping the noise down at night when others are sleeping."

There has been times when she has had to remind groups of hut etiquette, she said.

"We had a group of locals who came up at on New Year's Eve to stay and they brought with them six litres of alcohol to celebrate the night.

SUPPLIED There are more than 9000 steps to walk up towards Pouakai Hut.

"They were having a lot of fun but at 12.30am I had to remind them that some people in the hut wanted to get to sleep and ask them to quieten down.

"I haven't come across anyone yet who is grumpy and doesn't want to be staying in the hut.

"Most hut users quieten down around 10pm, it's like a volume switch, everything shuts off."

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF Spencer gets paid to watch spectacular sunsets.

Spencer said her role was not to be a policeman, "but more as a presence to help people".

Occasionally Spencer needed to gently remind some who have arrived in jandals and jeans that the weather may change for the worst at any stage.

"Mostly their response is they didn't realise the walk from the road to the hut would be so steep."

For the record there are over 9000 steps to climb up to Pouakai Hut from Mangorei Rd, she said.

"A few weeks back I noticed a group carrying up all their clothing and food in plastic shopping bags.

"It must have been quite hard work for them."

When the weather does close in it's time to hunker down, she said.

During the recent storm 150 millimetres of rainfall and gale force winds lashed the hut for 24 hours, Spencer said.

Around 3am, after a day playing cards, Spencer awoke suddenly when a tramper crashed through the door of her sleeping quarters.

"They had slipped on the rain soaked wooden path and through the door.

"Luckily there were no serious injuries."

DOC recorded 147,000 cars and 108,720 people visiting North Egmont in 2017. And 17,300 people walked all, or parts of, the Taranaki Crossing last year.

In spite of the increased popularity on the popular track, overcrowding in the hut had not been an issue, Spencer said.

There is no booking system in back country huts maintained by DOC. Trampers pay for a nights stay on a "first come, first served" basis.

Those without tickets can pay cash, and be invoiced, or pay back in the DOC office in New Plymouth.

"I've had a few people sleep on the floor of the hut, or tent outside when there have been no bunks left."