And now the Department of Conservation (Doc) may find itself in legal hot water over an incident that left Wellington woman Selma George badly injured and her husband fearing their children were dead.
Ms George is just starting to walk again and remains traumatised by her ordeal, after a large tree toppled on to her and her family near the Queenstown Shotover Jet site in January.
An investigation report compiled by Doc and obtained by Mountain Scene shows significant failings, including that the government department failed to identify the tree as a hazard or carry out any maintenance on it.
The report also recommends its findings be shared across the department "as it is likely that there are other similar circumstances in Doc".
The ”immediate” cause of the incident, however, was ”very strong gusty and swirling winds on the day, an ageing tree with a decaying root base below ground level, and a sandy soil base”.
That was unlikely to have been identified during standard maintenance checks, the report states.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the incident, Mrs George said Doc was to blame for "negligence".
She suffered multiple fractures and was receiving counselling to help her recover from the mental trauma of the incident.
"I can walk a little with the walking frame, just inside."
She and husband Jerin Varghese were considering taking legal action against Doc.
She, Mr Varghese, and their children Dalin (then 5) and Daphney (then 2) had been in Queenstown for just a few hours, on their first holiday as a family, when the incident happened.
Ms Varghese said the family were on their way back to Queenstown from Arrowtown when they decided to stop and watch the Shotover Jet boats from a picnic table under a tree by the river."It had been two or three minutes before it fell on Selma and the kids," he said.
A statement given by the pair to Doc, also provided to Scene, revealed the shocking moment Varghese believed his two young children had been killed.
It said Dalin's head was pinned by a large branch and he was bleeding from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
Mr Varghese believed Dalin was dead and recalls saying to Ms George: "Dalin is gone. He's my first boy, and he is gone".
He could not see Daphney but also believed she was dead.
Bystanders managed to lift the tree enough to get the trio out, and helped with first aid until emergency services arrived.
Dalin spent three days in intensive care. He had a broken arm, trauma to his heart and lungs, and his face was swollen. But he is now back at school.
Daphney was discharged after a short while in hospital with a concussion.
Ms George spent four days in Dunedin Hospital before being flown to Hutt Hospital, where she spent 10 days.
She has had surgery three times since the incident.
Mr Varghese says doctors believed it could take up to two years for Ms George to fully recover from the incident, which left her with a left hip dislocation and broken bones.
Ms George, a nurse, is unable to work and
her parents came over from India to help look after their two young children.
"It's hard because I wanted to see my parents, but not in this situation."
Doc Wakatipu operations manager Geoff Owen says it had been a "really traumatic experience for this family and our thoughts continue to be with them".
