Slip on Cape Kidnappers: Two injured, one critical.
A Cape Kidnappers tour operator who has already lost upwards of $500,000 of revenue because of the closure of a track to its famous gannet colony won't automatically be allowed back when the Department of Conservation reopens it.
DoC and the Hastings District Council announced on Wednesday the public wouldbe able to access the track "later in the year", but the risks to those who did remained high.
The walking track up from Clifton Beach to the colony has been closed for more than a year and a half after a huge landslip from towering cliffs on to the beach below seriously injured two Korean tourists walking past.
A Quantitative Risk Assessment report made public on Wednesday found that the landslide and rock fall hazard presented by the cliffs above the beach is "significant, unpredictable, and potentially fatal".
The QRA compared the risk for people travelling along the beach as equivalent to the risks faced by people undertaking mountain climbing.
Gannet Beach Adventures have lost out on over 12,000 customers since its closure, owner Colin Lindsay says. Photo / File
DoC said on Wednesday that it still needed to do work on the safety of the track before it could reopen it.
And Gannet Beach Adventures owner Colin Lindsay would need to update his business' safety plan to "satisfactorily address the risks" before DoC would allow him and his guests back on the track, DoC Lower North Island operations director Hayden Barrett said.
Lindsay said his tractors would have transported in the region of 12,000 guests in the 18 months it had been closed, leaving him with no other option but to seek work elsewhere to cover costs.
The thought of still not being able to operate once the track was open was galling.
"My wife and I had to seek other employment to keep Gannet Beach Adventures on hold," he said.
"We've had a lot of support from local businesses, with providing us with work.
"The costs of owning a business are high, even if it is not operating and making money.
"We have had no turnover for 12 months, with our average turnover in the vicinity of $350,000 a year prior to this.
"We've put our lives on hold for a year and a half, while we try to keep our businesses afloat."
DOC'S PLAN FOR THE WALK - MAKE IT UNGROOMED
Barrett said all risks could not be eliminated from natural environments, but better information to help Cape Kidnappers track users understand the risks is needed.
"Mountain climbers are generally well-informed and prepared for the obvious risks they face – very different from most day visitors looking to walk this mainly flat beach walk," he said.
The walking track at Cape Kidnappers will reopen in the coming months, despite "potentially fatal" hazards. Photo / File
"Many visitors are seeking a relatively safe and easy walk, not somewhere where the chance of serious injury or fatality is a very real possibility."
Barrett said although the risk from natural hazards cannot be mitigated, some controls to help manage the risk and avoid restricting all access can be put in place.
These will include monitoring the cliffs, warning people of the risks, temporary closures where necessary and changing DoC's management of visitor facilities.
Signs at the Clifton Beach entrance will be updated to note the risk, and the walk along the beach will not be promoted.
"Now that we understand the high level of risk, we cannot provide facilities – such as a well-groomed track – that might signal to people that the trip is safe.
"By aligning our management with that of back country sites, we aim to discourage people who are simply after a casual beach walk," he added.
Lindsay, who runs trips by tractor along the beach to the gannets, said DoC appeared to have heeded parts of the QRA and ignored others.
Lindsay said a recommendation in the report suggests the risk from landslides could be controlled by recommending the public "take advantage of the local knowledge, and reduced exposure time, by going on an organised tour".
That was exactly what DoC was now potentially preventing, he said.
Gannet Beach Adventures owner Colin Lindsay left seeking other employment to cover financial losses after company closure. Photo / File
Lindsay said one of the conclusions of the report stated the risk associated with visiting the gannets was slightly less than those from eruption hazards when walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
"When you hear it is the same risk as mountain climbing, you get a mental picture of Mount Cook, snow, ropes and lots of risk," he said.
"People travel in from different parts of New Zealand with a few bars and a bottle of water and do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
"That's the reality of that, and that's what the report compares us with."
Another conclusion said the risk of fatality for Gannet Beach Adventures staff is lower than the risk of staff at Fox and Franz Josef.
"Visiting Fox and Franz Josef glaciers - people wouldn't associate huge risk with that. It's a huge popular tourism drawcard," Lindsay added.
"It's the department of confusion, not the Department of Conservation."
University of Auckland associate professor Martin Brook said there had been three instances of beach users being struck by a landslide at Cape Kidnappers - in 1973, 1988, and 2019, with no deaths.
"This is despite Gannet Beach Adventures' estimate of 500,000 passengers over the last 67 years, in addition to the 15,000 tourists per year that are thought to visit the beach."
