Boat owners now have exclusive use of the popular Kidds Bush camping ground on the edge of Lake Hawea, and that could continue indefinitely.
Mead Rd, which runs through Hunter Valley Station to the Department of Conservation-owned camping ground, is closed to the public and there is uncertainty about whether it will reopen.
A barrier placed across the no-exit road by station lessees Taff and Penny Cochrane during the lambing season was not removed last month, as it has been in previous years.
The sign on the barrier that in October read ''access closed for lambing and calving'' now reads simply ''access closed''.
Doc's Wanaka conservation services manager Chris Sydney said the station had notified the department Mead Rd was not available for public use.
''The duration of the continued closure period is unknown,'' he said.
Doc is in discussions with the Cochranes' Christchurch lawyer, Kit Mouat, but Mr Sydney said yesterday ''at this stage there is no clear indication that a resolution can be reached in the immediate future''. He advised regular Kidds Bush campers that access ''is only available to the camp ground via boat''.
Mr Sydney noted more than 3000 people used the camping area each year, with numbers peaking in January and February.
''It is regrettable that Hunter Valley Station's decision will be disappointing for those who had planned to camp at Kidds Bush this summer.''
Mr Sydney said the department had no ownership interest in Mead Rd, did not administer the land over which it ran but did have ''an interest'' in securing public access to the public conservation land in the Hunter Valley.
He said the department understood Mead Rd was a public road administered by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
In October, the council decided to discontinue its long-running legal action to keep the road open to the public, council general manager legal and regulatory Scott Carran telling the ODT the decision recognised the cost to ratepayers and that it was a matter best left to the station and the Crown to resolve.
A camper at Kidds Bush for almost four decades, Kevin Dackers, of Invercargill, said he would be disappointed if he was not able to return to the campsite where he was married.
However, he had sympathy with the Cochranes because of the issues they faced, particularly with ''day trippers'' with dogs.
The ODT encountered Mr Cochrane at the barrier yesterday.
When told of Mr Dackers comments, Mr Cochrane said he had sympathy for the regular campers, too. He then drove off, leaving the barrier locked.
