The Department of Conservation has cancelled its planned release of bunks for four Great Walks as a glitch took the booking website offline this morning.

The release of summer bookings for the Abel Tasman Coast Track, Kepler Track, Rakiura Track, Whanganui Journey, will not go ahead as planned.

DoC issued an apology, asking trampers to “keep an eye on our website for updated booking dates”

The statement came 20 minutes after the 2023/23 season was supposed to open for booking.

The most popular trail on the network, the Abel Tasman is served by four huts and 14 campsites - representing almost 17000 bednights a season.

This is not the first IT issue of the bookings season.

On Thursday, the opening day for the Milford Track’s 2023/24 season, unexpected demand took the bookings site offline.

“Despite a third party IT glitch, the track was almost fully booked out by noon,” said Cameron Hyland, DoC’s Bookings Services Manager.