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More great walks would be a good thing

PHOTO: NZ.com

The Milford Track is one of ten Great Walks that this year is attracting a record number of people.

Pat Deavoll

editor@thewanakasun.co.nz

Last week bookings for the Routeburn and Milford tracks opened. The Milford Track was sold out with online bookings within 15 minutes. DOC’s server got overloaded and shut down, such was the popularity. There are I think nine Great Walks in New Zealand (or maybe ten now with the addition of the Paparoa Track) and they include the Milford Track, the Heaphy, Abel Tasman and Routeburn.

Walking these is highly regulated – bookings are necessary, you have to pay and you can only walk a certain distance every day to avoid crowding the huts.

Way back in 1978 my friend Chris and I did a three-month traverse of the Southern Alps, from Foveaux Strait to Cook Strait following the divide. We were very young being 17 years and 18 years respectively – quite capable physically of doing it but psychologically it took its toll on us. We missed family and friends and in those days you didn't see as many people in the hills as you do today. So we got a bit lonely at times. It was worse when the weather was bad.

At one stage, after slogging our way up through Fiordland rain and bog for several weeks we got onto the Milford Track. In some ways, it was heaven- a beautiful track and a warm dry hut every night. A change from our soggy tent. We even carried a weighty pumpkin and a cabbage along with us so that we could eat decent, nutritious meals. A respite from the dehy food we had become used to.

But we treated the experience with disdain. No self-respecting tramper/ mountaineer would rate the Milford Track as an achievement. What's more, we went on to climb up onto the Routeburn Track and treated it the same way. We were better than that. We were way too hardcore and were only using the tracks to get into the more remote, more challenging country.

How times have changed! These days I have a completely different take on it. If we are to manage our burgeoning tourist industry and get value for money from it, we need to be offering more of the likes of the Great Walks. Tourists (and Kiwis) need to be paying considerable amounts of money to enjoy our great outdoors, and they need to be regulated to reduce the impact on the environment. The Great Walks do all this. Plus they offer a premium experience with a high standard of tracks and huts which can only add to our reputation as a quality international tourist destination.

It's amazing to think that Chris and I did our traverse over 40 years, so maybe it's my excessive age that has changed my opinion. Whatever, these days I say bring on more Great Walks. The Dart-Rees would be a good example. It would make a great, great Great Walk. Regulate the heck out of our outdoors and support our environment. There is still plenty of country out there for the hardcore as Chris and I discovered.

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K Kiriana Flannery

Constable, NZPD

Hi everyone,

We felt the colder weather and finally got to see some sun towards the end of the week which was nice. Fingers crossed the mountains get a good dumping of snow soon.

My first week on the Wānaka Police Public Safety Team has been a reasonably busy one.

We received a report of a vehicle broken into near Makarora after the owner had unfortunately broken down and had to abandon their vehicle for one night. Please remember to take valuables from your vehicles and don’t leave any items visible for thieves to see and give them a reason to target your vehicle.

Tuesday, we dealt with a family harm matter of a minor nature. You may have noticed an increase of Police presence along Lakeside Road where there is plenty of roadworks and construction taking place. We will continue to monitor this - I remind you to please slow down along here.

Wednesday morning, we had a motor vehicle vs mob of sheep along Cardrona Valley. Thankfully the sole occupant received no injuries. We also received a complaint regarding glass bottles having flown off a truck and trailer unit as it left Wānaka. The truck was stopped shortly after which was lucky. A cow on the road near Häwea caused a minor accident, again thankfully no one injured here. A family harm matter was also reported.

Thursday morning, we had a single vehicle crash into a power pole in Luggate which put a lot of peoples power out for the morning. The driver was not injured. We received reports of camo skull image graffiti at the Wānaka skate park. This is not appreciated and a reminder that we do have CCTV around this area so these people will be caught up with.

On Thursday we arrested a person on a warrant for failing to appear in court. They were taken to court the following morning to front the judge. Another person was served a suspension from driving for 3 months due to excess demerit points.

Saturday, an alcohol checkpoint was conducted for patrons leaving town, over 200 vehicles all complying with the alcohol limits. Well done to this bunch! Unfortunately, in the early hours of the Sunday morning a person was caught with low range excess breath alcohol and received an infringement of $200 along with 50 demerit points. This is often a wakeup call to a lot of people who don’t realise they had that one too many. The bars had many patrons out for the Super Rugby finals, many cleared out pretty swiftly with the Highlanders loss – it seemed to put a dampener on the night for some. Some others partied on a little too hard. A person was found lying in their own vomit and another found sleeping on the grass roadside. Thanks to our good members of the public we managed to get them home safely. Drugs were seized from a vehicle after a strong smell was noted during a routine traffic stop.

Be patient if you’re travelling to Makarora. There are a number of traffic lights set up, wait for the green otherwise you could see yourself with a $150 ticket!

Enjoy your week and keep warm.

PHOTO: Wanaka Sun