{"id":424897,"date":"2026-05-13T02:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T02:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424897\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T02:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T02:48:12","slug":"thousands-queue-as-milford-track-spots-book-out-in-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424897\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands queue as Milford Track spots book out in minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4L0FI7D_20231028_133846_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"The Department of Conservation says the 53.5km Milford Track in Fiordland can only be walked in one direction over three nights and four days.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nThe Department of Conservation says the 53.5km Milford Track in Fiordland can only be walked in one direction over three nights and four days.<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Tess Brunton\n<\/p>\n<p>The popular Milford Track was mostly sold out within half-an-hour of bookings opening, with thousands queuing online to secure a spot.<\/p>\n<p>There were about 7000 available for the &#8216;Great Walk&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the Department of Conservation (DOC) upgraded its online booking system to include a virtual queue to help manage peak demand after multiple crashes in previous years.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, the booking website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/488330\/online-system-crashes-as-milford-track-bookings-open-for-2023-24-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">crashed for several hours<\/a> when 10,000 people tried to book the Milford Track at once, with further crashes in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>DOC heritage and visitors director Cat Wilson said demand was intense from the moment bookings opened, with about 13,500 users already in line &#8211; higher than the roughly 12,000 users recorded last year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Milford Track remains one of New Zealand&#8217;s most sought-after experiences, and we saw extraordinary demand again this morning,&#8221; Wilson said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Despite the very high traffic volumes, the booking platform performed well and people moved steadily through the queue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4L0FGGX_20231028_141615_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"The Department of Conservation says the 53.5km Milford Track in Fiordland can only be walked in one direction over three nights and four days.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nA section of the Milford Track.<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Tess Brunton\n<\/p>\n<p>Wilson encouraged people to consider off-peak times, other Great Walks and other tracks and huts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are still fantastic experiences available outside the busiest summer months, and people should also continue checking the booking system as cancellations and changes do occur throughout the season,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s fantastic to see so many people planning adventures and getting excited about naturing in some of Aotearoa&#8217;s most special places.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4L0FL2K_20231028_123652_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"The Department of Conservation says the 53.5km Milford Track in Fiordland can only be walked in one direction over three nights and four days.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nThe Milford Track is a four-day tramp.<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Tess Brunton\n<\/p>\n<p>Bookings for the remaining Great Walks, huts and campsites continue to open on staggered dates this month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Conservation says the 53.5km Milford Track in Fiordland can only be walked in one direction&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-424897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}