the thing is as these companies get involved, doc then becomes dependant on them going forward, a commercial company gets it's foot in the door in a beign way to start with , but then they can slowly ratchet pressure on doc for their own agenda..
ultimate hikes have applied to double the size of their operation on the routeburn track.... bigger huts. and all the helicopter flights involved in constructing them and they already have massive edifices there, more supplies needed, more flights again.....
i've had an argument with one of their guides when he wanted to put his entire party across a bridge and wouldnt let me a single person across the bridge, trying to make me wait for his dozen trampers to cross in individual groups.
i started across between his seperte groups of five and got abused. he seemed to think he had right of way. and its not an isolated incident.
the companies want to make money, they want to use the national parks to make money for them, raise their presense, look clean and green, look at air new zealand striking up a deal to promote the great walks... sure people fly here and doc want to fly endangered species around the company but to let air nz get into bed with them . doc shouldnt be letting an airline use them in their promotions. it's not like the great walks represent big business for air nz. it's just a marketing gimmick for them, they want the association with clean green nz,... to offset the fact they are one of the bigger polution causing companies in the world.... shall i say DOC have to prostitute themselves to big business. how long will it be before they strike up sponsorship with mining companies and let them rape the parks? i remember an oil research spokes person say there has only been one recent incident with oil explorations, ie, the gulf of mexico and bp. and look what that incident did..... chile let mining companies mine absolutely anywhere, including glaciers. you're admiring the scenery then you're senses are assaulted with an open cast mine.... dept of CONSERVATION i think any companies they are associated with should be companies that have something more than a passing interest in the environment.... once you're in bed with the corporate world it will be pretty hard to get out of bed.
i wait to see if the national govt cut the budget of doc again forcing them to prostitute themselves even more to big business.....people don't travel to nz to see them parks they are here to see unadaulterated nature minus the cheesiness of a lot of overseas countries....
i se the great walks brochures have advertising in them now, at the moment the adversising is for service providers to do with the tracks, hopefully doc don't end up having to take on whatever sponsor pays the biggest bucks.... rather than the ones without the agenda's...
so far we've been spared gondola rides and more roads sything through the parks, but will that last....the commercial companies are the ones holding the future purse strings...
in a perfect world i dont think doc should get involved with any commercial companies.
there must be strict rules in place about any commercial involvement, doc must still call the shots.
people go into the national parks to get away from the commercial world.
situations where the no of guided walkers on the routeburn may double at a single stroke of the pen go against the getting away from it all role of the parks.
in abel tasman national park there was originally only one tourist operator for each type of outdoor pursuit in the park. one operator basically had most of the business to themselves. DOC decided to open things up since it was anti copmetitive to let one company have a monopoly.
the place went mad. a kayak operator commented it used to be good before they deregulated, all the operators used to help each other out. now there are too many companies competing for business and the cooperation has all but vanished... the place is overun with boats, and kayaks, it's can be as crowded as any location around aucklands coastlines... doc didnt monitor the situation effectively at all. it's only in recent years they finally stopped any futher companies operating in the park...
now the pressure is on to get more money, will the floodgates be opened again for tourist operators in the parks?
at the moment most of our partks are still relatively unspoilt, once the commercial operators start over running them, can you every reverse that? it hasnt been reversed in the abel tasman.
the abel tasman isnt a place i am fussed about visiting anymore, i've seen the change for myself in the park,
i do visit it still but mainly beccause i have family there who i visit. but i'm not happy about what i see
doc dont have the resources to enforce the rules there
there was a dog running up and down the beach, my cousin contacted doc and they wrent interested, they were flat out trying to police the boats in the park....
and abel tasman is a relatively small national park. i cant recall ever seeeing a ranger outside of the huts, you could take a dog right through the main coastal track in the national park and stand a good chance of not getting caught...
there are at least 700 rental kayaks in abel tasman park, plus people bringing their own
literally dozens of commercial boats, a lot of them with high power noisy outboard motors that ru up and down the coast all day long, outboard motors are a big part of the background noise in the park during the day on the coast, throughout spring summer and into autumn.
countless people bring their own boats into the park
to me abel tasman doesnt feel like a national park, it feels like any outdoor area adjacent to a major city,
i can get that experience any day of the year without going to a national park, in fact i'd argue the waters around auckland are a lot quiter in a lot of places than abel tasman as there is a lot more coastline for them to spread out in... some places near auckland are far far more peaceful than abel tasman....
I"ve been on a beach well into abel tasman and there were the best part of a hundred kayaks on the beach, i counted them and there were more coming in, not to mention all the boats.... pretty much all the kayak operators used it as a staging beach for their trips and it wasnt the only beach like that, everywhre you go is kayaks on the water and on the beaches... it's certainly not the best of wilderness experiences to get away from it all....
thres only a smll area of the park the operators won't operate in because of the exposure to rough surf.
otherwise they would overrun the entire park
