Milford walk sells out in 30 minutes
It takes up to four days to walk it, but 30 minutes is all it took yesterday for all Milford Track tickets for this season to sell out.
High demand was expected for a chance to traverse the track and it was.
Department of Conservation (Doc) visitor services manager Cameron Hyland was pleased with the interest.
'The opening of the Milford Great Walk has been a success, continuing the run of successful openings of all Great Walks bookings beginning May 13,'' he said.
He said the booking system for the Milford Track worked well yesterday morning with 11,800 people queuing in the lobby at 9.30am to make bookings for just 7100 spots.
''The Milford Track effectively sold out around 10am - with 2000 bookings made - an average booking is for two to three people.
''Inevitably some people miss out given the high demand and limited supply for Milford Great Walk.
''We recommend checking back regularly - cancellations mean new spaces sometimes become available.''
Bookings also went smoothly yesterday with Lake Waikaremoana, Abel Tasman Coast and Paparoa Tracks, with 3300 bookings made in the first hour of opening and about 6000 users joining the queue.
A new Great Walks booking system had reduced waiting time online to a few minutes, Doc said last week in a statement.
The booking system had been plagued with issues in recent years, with system crashes, false starts and booking dates pushed back following high demand and technical glitches.
- APL
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