Gutted as weekend washed out
customers to come through for Waitangi weekend which is usually pretty busy but . . . a lot of people didn’t even come to Whangamatā ,’’ Dal Bosco said. ‘‘It definitely made me consider that we might have to get other jobs.’’
The Thames-Coromandel District had been riddled with a series of road closures and partial opening of other routes.
SH25 Thames Coast road between Waiomu and Ruamahunga had closed due to a major rockfall last week and SH25a from Kopu-Hikuai was cut off for the foreseeable future after cracks in the important Coromandel route had developed into a colossal landslide which was still moving.
All they could do was ‘‘sit and wait’’ Dal Bosco said. Surfsup derives most of its income during summer and needed visitors to come when things cleared up.
‘‘February could be good, it might make up for some of those losses, you never know, we’re hoping for the best. Please come and see us.’’
The uncertainty of the situation troubled Fred Bayer from Peninsula Motel in Whitianga. Marketing to travellers was difficult when there was no clue as to when the roads would open or what the weather would do next.
The motel had lost most of its bookings.
‘‘We were full, and now we’re not,’’ he said. ‘‘[A] summer concert was on too, and that was cancelled, so that eliminated all our long weekend bookings, so basically it’s now the odd bookings . . . it’s had a major impact.’’
January was usually the busiest calendar month for Soul Burger in Whangamatā , but it was holding out for better weather this month, during what had become a long and ‘‘really tough’’ summer.
‘‘We’re probably 50% capacity in sales compared to the same time last year,’’ owner Pip Simmons said. She said there had been no warning that the two biggest weekends, Auckland Anniversary and Waitangi, would be ‘‘non-starters’’.
On Friday, ThamesCoromandel District Council declared a state of emergency.