Paula Kerslake’s cafe sits, as of Tuesday, at the start of a massive cul-de-sac.
Whereas, on Monday, it sat on one of the busiest roads at the top of the South Island.
As such, the Pelorus Bridge Cafe will be doing things a little differently for the next seven weeks, as State Highway 6 is closed to fast-track flood repair work.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has closed SH6 between Hira and Ronga Rd, near Rai Valley, from Tuesday, November 1 to Sunday, December 18 to make emergency repairs caused by the August floods.
Anthony Phelps/STUFF
The Pelorus Bridge Cafe will only open three days a week – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – during the seven-week closure of SH6.
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Kerslake’s cafe and campground, overlooking the cold but beautiful waters of the Pelorus River, which featured in Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, is a popular holiday and rest spot halfway between Blenheim and Nelson.
The cafe is normally open seven days a week in summer. But, for the next seven weeks, it will be open three days a week; Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will go from eight staff to two.
But she’s also playing it by ear a bit too.
Hamish Bond/stuff
The Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve is a popular holiday and rest spot halfway between Blenheim and Nelson.
Kerslake opened on Tuesday – the first day of the road closure – to let locals know what was happening.
“I am here if they need coffee, and something to eat, because we can still cater if we need to …
“If the sign is out, the coffee machine will be on.”
Kerslake said they had been busy over the past month with tourism returning and Christmas bookings coming up, as the campground remained open.
“But if people come out camping, they will have to turn around and go back the other way. So camping people are going to have to choose to want to come out this way.”
Waka Kotahi/Stuff
State Highway 6 will be closed between Hira and Ronga Rd, near Rai Valley, for the next seven weeks as Waka Kotahi carries out flood repairs.
The closure meant the journey from Blenheim to Nelson would take an extra 45 minutes, taking SH63 through the Wairau Valley, past St Arnaud and onto the other end of SH6, and into Nelson through Wakefield. Meanwhile, people living in Rai Valley had an extra two hours put onto their trips to Nelson, as they had to come back as far as Renwick and join the alternate loop around.
As people reorganised their lives around the closure of SH6, Kokorua residents, in the Whangamoa hills, were facing total isolation until Waka Kotahi organised a forestry track convoy to get them out to Nelson each day. There would be 12 escorted trips a day.
Meanwhile, a subsidised air service between Nelson and Blenheim would run for the full seven-week closure of SH6, with standard seats costing $89 and flexi-fare seats costing $99.
“This closure is the hardest time for us,” Kerslake said.
“We need the road to be fixed, we totally get that, but it has been a hard couple of years for all [in] hospitality.
“I am not too despondent about it, but it’s going to be a hard seven weeks for us all, not just for myself, but for everybody.”
Anthony Phelps/STUFF
Waka Kotahi says the full closure of SH6 means the repairs can be completed faster.
But for businesses in the likes of Wakefield, the detour might actually lead to a purple patch leading up to Christmas.
Cafe Rhubarbe owner Michelle Agnew said they were flat out on Tuesday morning, from 8.30am to about 11am.
Agnew said there were dozens more customers than usual, many of them talking about travelling the alternative route.
Wakefield Bakery shop assistant Jamie Prestidge said staff noticed a lot more traffic than usual outside the shop around 9am on Tuesday morning – although a local road closure might also be having an impact, she said.
The shop wasn’t any busier yet, but it was “early days”, she said.
