Milford Sound disruption

[Globaliser]

As this doesn't seem to have been posted yet:-

 

There was a big storm last week in the south of New Zealand, and there has been a lot of damage affecting Milford Sound. The only road there has been badly damaged and will take some time to repair. The current priority is to build a single-track four-wheel-drive construction road so that there is an alternative to helicopters. Although I think drive-by cruises are now permitted again (after a ban of a few days), this will affect anyone who's needing to get to/from Milford Sound by road, including those doing the overnight excursion between Dunedin and Milford Sound.

 

Some video is available here:-

 

A fairly random selection of other media stories:-

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409117/milford-sound-businesses-suffer-as-damaged-road-remains-closed

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409183/southland-coming-to-grips-with-scale-of-flood-damage

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/‘urgent’-need-road-access-milford

 

 

[psygist]

Sure hope they can rebuild a road by March as I am planning on the overnight from Milford to Dunedin.  Would be disappointed if unable to tour Fjiordland on land but impact to the local tourism looks to be far worse. 

[Kiwi Kruzer]

The road is getting priority and is open at the moment to 4W drive service vehicles travelling in a convoy at specified times . A lot of repair work is needed not only to the road but also the walking tracks , many of which have been washed away or buried under rock slides . I am picking it will be a long time before it’s safe once more for tourist travel .

[Host Jazzbeau]

Our Ponant pre-cruise extension in Queenstown is supposed to do a "a two-hour guided walk on the Routeburn Track which commences by crossing a swing bridge and entering a spectacular red beech/tawhero dominated forest."  I know the Routeburn Track is closed because of these landslides, but I wonder if this baby stretch near Paradise is still available.

[psygist]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Our Ponant pre-cruise extension in Queenstown is supposed to do a "a two-hour guided walk on the Routeburn Track which commences by crossing a swing bridge and entering a spectacular red beech/tawhero dominated forest."  I know the Routeburn Track is closed because of these landslides, but I wonder if this baby stretch near Paradise is still available.

 

 

One of the media sites listed above said that the road to Milford should reopen to tourist buses February 22 by guided convoy at specified times. So reason to be hopeful. Kudos to the road repair crews!

[Globaliser]

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Our Ponant pre-cruise extension in Queenstown is supposed to do a "a two-hour guided walk on the Routeburn Track which commences by crossing a swing bridge and entering a spectacular red beech/tawhero dominated forest."  I know the Routeburn Track is closed because of these landslides, but I wonder if this baby stretch near Paradise is still available.

 

If you don't get a more authoritative answer, you might want to have a look at the news update that should be available from the Ultimate Hikes website's home page on Monday 17 February to see whether that will give more clues. The damage to the Routeburn Track that attracted the headlines was on the western side of the watershed, and you'd be walking at the eastern end of the track nearer Lake Wakatipu where Ultimate Hikes was reporting "encouraging news". But it may be that DoC will simply keep the entire track closed.

[Globaliser]

19 hours ago, Globaliser said:

If you don't get a more authoritative answer, you might want to have a look at the news update that should be available from the Ultimate Hikes website's home page on Monday 17 February to see whether that will give more clues. The damage to the Routeburn Track that attracted the headlines was on the western side of the watershed, and you'd be walking at the eastern end of the track nearer Lake Wakatipu where Ultimate Hikes was reporting "encouraging news". But it may be that DoC will simply keep the entire track closed.

 

I was curious enough to have a look this morning. Ultimate Hikes says:-

 

With the Milford Track now underway, we turn our laser focus onto the Routeburn Track. Three of our guides were allowed to walk from Mackenzie Lodge to the Routeburn Shelter on Friday, and while they are pretty optimistic, they have also reported there is a bit of work to do to make the section from Falls Lodge to the end safe for us to walk.

 

For orientation, Ultimate Hikes does the Routeburn from west to east, and the guides were walking in that direction: (Lake) Mackenzie Lodge is the first night's accommodation, (Routeburn) Falls Lodge is the second night, and the Routeburn Shelter is at the eastern end of the track where is reaches the public road. So it does sound like there is some significant damage at the eastern end of the track (as well as the major damage nearer the western end that attracted news headlines).

[Korimako]

This is probably the definitive site for up-to-date information on tracks and access. it will be updated regularly.

 

https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/issues/extreme-weather-event-in-fiordland

[WESTEAST]

We cruised the Milford Sound on February 10th and were told that our ship, Regatta was the first ship permitted in after the terrible storm. There was plenty of air traffic in the area. It was a glorious day - amazing scenery!

 

[Tansy Mews]

On 2/18/2020 at 4:03 PM, WESTEAST said:

We cruised the Milford Sound on February 10th and were told that our ship, Regatta was the first ship permitted in after the terrible storm. There was plenty of air traffic in the area. It was a glorious day - amazing scenery!

 

 

And the captain took us through Dusky Sound too. Great weather, especially in Dusky.

 

Frances