It's an ongoing waiting game, tourism operator Steve Norris, owner of Trips & Tramps, says.
He’s referring to the years and millions of dollars spent considering how to tackle an array of challenges facing tourism at Milford Sound and dangers on the notorious Milford Rd (State Highway 94) that leads to the famous fiord.
Options are sitting on the desks of government ministers, but they have been there for seven months and are labelled confidential.
"There’s no news... People in the community don’t know what advice went to ministers nor when they will make decisions. Who knows when we will hear anything."
A government-funded research and consultation exercise called the Milford Opportunities Project (Mop) was started eight years ago. It produced a "master plan" after four years including proposals that are standard practice in wow-factor national parks elsewhere in the world, such as an access fee for international visitors and a park-and-ride bus service. The plan was followed by another four years of feasibility research.
Final advice was sent up to Conservation Minister Tama Potaka and then tourism minister Mat Doocey in June last year but it was cloaked in secrecy, the Mop offices in Te Anau have shut down and nothing has yet happened.
An eye-watering $18.25m has been spent, with $15m of it spent after the masterplan was published.
Meanwhile, the numbers of visitors taking a cruise on the sound are edging towards a million a year. They doubled between 2012 and 2018 - from 437,000 to 883,000 - and this year are expected to be almost back at pre-Covid levels.
Minister for Economic Growth Nicola Willis said last week boosting tourism numbers further is a government priority. It follows that managing visits to New Zealand’s top tourist drawcard Milford Sound, in ways that are sustainable and stop people being hurt on the notorious Milford Road, must also be a priority. More than eight out of 10 of the sound’s visitors are from overseas.
Seven months after the Mop advice landed with Mr Potaka and Mr Doocey, a new, and broader, consultation process has started. The Department of Conservation (Doc) is running a public consultation, closing at the end of next month, about charging people to access conservation land, including Milford Sound. Views are sought on who should be charged, to go where, and how money raised should be invested.
Another consultation about tourist concessions is also under way.
It is unclear how these further consultations impact Milford decisions. The government says, in its consultation on access charging, that discussions on specific charging structures will not happen until 2026.
Mr Doocey has been replaced by Louise Upston in a ministerial reshuffle. Mr Potaka is still at the helm and told the ODT that the Mop had delivered to ministers "a comprehensive set of options for government in a business case". There had been extensive research, feasibility testing and stakeholder engagement, he said.
He then uttered one of the most commonly-used sentences in political leadership: "Decisions on next steps will be made in due course."
Milford woes
The road to Milford is notorious for being high-risk. It has a history of deaths and injuries, including crashes caused by overtaking drivers in a rush to get on their cruise boats or returning drivers trying to get back to Queenstown and taking risks when tired. At least 10 people were seriously hurt on the road, described by the Mop as the third-worst for risk of any public road in New Zealand, in the years 2019-23.
At the very least, the many drivers of cars, campervans, motorbikes and tour buses endure stress navigating the single-carriageway, rural road and the many dangerous behaviours on it.
There is variable chance of a fast rescue if a crash happens, although it was much worse in the past. Thanks to government funding of the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG), a venture by New Zealand’s three mobile network operators, there are now nine cellphone towers, providing some coverage, but it is patchy.
RCG’s head of operations Andrea Vins said the towers covered 32.87km of 84.2km between Te Anau downs and Milford Sound. The latest site, at the chasm carpark, went live recently.
Kevin Thompson, manager of an alliance between Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency and Downer NZ that manages the Milford Road "State Highway 94, like many roads through rural areas, does not have complete mobile phone coverage. This is due to its mountainous terrain."
At Milford Sound itself, concerns have been voiced loudly, by long-standing tourism operators, that facilities for staff and visitors are woefully inadequate and need concessions to improve them.
The future of Te Anau is another, heavily related issue. The small township, on the shores of Lake Te Anau, is 170km closer to Milford Sound than Queenstown. It has the strong drawcard of being only a short stroll from one of the borders of the national park and the start of the Kepler Track great walk.
It is the obvious stopover for tourists who want to visit Milford Sound and have the opportunity to explore much more in Fiordland and many of its permanent residents are economically reliant on the tourist trade.
However, many tourists day-tripping to Milford Sound are funnelled by tourism marketing on to a tour bus from Queenstown. It is a gruelling 576km round trip and 14-hour day. They miss out on Te Anau and the wonders of Fiordland on its doorstep.
Plan to where?
The Mop masterplan published in 2021 said it aimed to transform the "stresses on the road corridor and Milford Sound Piopiotahi from the previous rushed and congested visitor experience". It emphasised the environmental and safety benefits and the convenient, flexible and relaxed tourist experience it could create.
Visitors touring New Zealand by car would park up in a Te Anau hub, pay their entry fee if they are from overseas, then hop on multiple park-and-ride buses that would ply the Milford road throughout the day. They would have the choice to hop off the bus at points of interest along the road, and hop back on the next bus that rolled along.
People with a camping permit for one of the Doc campsites along the road would still be able to drive to their site. The furthest campsite is at Cascade Creek, 71km from Te Anau.
Parking spaces at Milford Sound might only be bookable, in advance, by New Zealanders. New Zealanders would also be able to gain free permits to give them continued freedom to travel the Milford Road into the park for recreational purposes such as tramping and hunting.
The plan did not propose preventing tourist coaches travelling to Milford Sound from Queenstown.
Mop has said that more than 600 tourism operators, experts and community members were engaged and consulted before and after the plan was published.
However, the cost and time involved has left Te Anau folk scratching their heads, wondering what is next and sounding a little defeated, bemused or out of the loop.
The Redcliff Cafe’s Megan Houghton said there was a need for action.
"It has been going on so long. They should get on with it to protect lives, our community and the nature around us."
She reflected on the words of much-loved Ray Willett, long-term Te Anau resident and advocate for the environment, who first guided on the Milford Track in 1959. "What did he call Fiordland? Oh yes. Majestical splendour."
Te Anau pharmacist George Batchelor said Mop’s masterplan, if it went ahead, should be mirrored with a plan for Te Anau, such as further healthcare investment and both plans "need to be cognisant of the needs of locals who are going to run things and live in the place year-round not just tourists here during the summer".
Tourist support and ignorance
The ODT talked to groups of foreign tourists who were sunbathing on the pebbly shore of Lake Te Anau, next to the Doc visitor centre, while gazing at the "majestical splendour" of the Kepler mountains on the opposite side.
Unsurprisingly, none objected to the master plan. They had been to Milford Sound, or were planning to go, and thought an entrance fee and a park and ride would be a no-brainer if it meant money for more conservation and lives saved on the road.
"It’s a good idea, of course!" Julian Girardeau, from France, said.
He was among many tourists the ODT spoke to who had not heard of the Kepler track - the great walk that starts from Te Anau. They were surprised when told they could walk to its start, then stroll along the track in native forest, from where they were sitting.
Alex Grimes, from England, said: "What’s the Kepler? I had no idea. It looked like there was nothing over there, just nature."
A marketing professional by trade, Mr Grimes recognised that marketing had channelled him to Milford.
"They don’t tell you there is free stuff, do they? They want us to pay for an experience."
"The town is overshadowed by Milford Sound but we heard it was cute and decided to stop by," Ms Kurtbay said.
They were giving Milford Sound the swerve due to its congested reputation, but said they would definitely cycle it, if there was an off-road track.
Doc’s operations manager John Lucas said the Doc website provided "extensive information on all the opportunities to access and enjoy Fiordland National Park".
All the tourists spoken to were aghast and laughed when told the cost of the Mop, with several saying they could have arrived at the master plan’s recommendations while sat drinking their beers on Te Anau’s beach.
