Cathedral Cove walking track reopened for summer

Walking access to Cathedral Cove has been restored for the busy summer period after it was badly damaged by extreme weather.

A temporary walking track has been put in place to allow visitors to access the world-famous beach over the holiday season.

Cathedral Cove has only been accessible by sea since February 2023.

Sections of the 3.8km track were blocked by slips caused by extreme weather events, including Cyclone Hale and Cyclone Gabrielle last year.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka officially opened the track today, saying it was an important step in the recovery of the tourism industry in the region following the devastating cyclones and Covid pandemic.

Access to the beach has been closed off – though some visitors have tried to climb barriers to get to the popular tourist spot. Photo / DoC

Visitors were expected to bring an estimated $12 million into the region a year, he said. Around 250,000 people visited the area each year.

The walking track was repaired through $1.4m in funding from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy. It was the first step in a $5m project to restore walking access.

“To support the community and get the track open for this summer, we have delivered an initial solution for walkers,” Potaka said. “The second stage of development is intended to provide more resilient access to better withstand ongoing challenges from strong weather and land movement over the long term.”

The track was closed in February 2023 following Cyclone Gabrielle and has only been accessible by sea. There were up to 180 slips along its length, some of them historic and others caused by the storms.

The Department of Conservation (DoC) said in July that finding a way to traverse the worst landslide had been a challenge. A new boardwalk was built to reconnect undamaged sections of the track, and steps to the beach were also rebuilt.

One of the slips at Cathedral Cove. Photo / Chris Twemlow, Department of Conservation

DoC also said after reopening, it might have to advise visitors not to use the track when weather or geotechnical risks were considered too high.

Last month, it said progress on restoring the track had been made more difficult by tourists trying to access the beach on foot. Dozens of visitors were being turned away each day, and some had climbed over barriers to access the damaged path.

The beach, named for its cavernous rock arch, was named as one of the world’s top 50 beaches this year.

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