Businesses in the Far North are worried about the number of tourists that will travel to their towns over the holiday season as a critical section of State Highway 1 remains closed.
The Mangamuka Gorge was shut in August due to significant damage caused by severe weather - the second time in two years.
Nestled off SH1 in the Far North is the small town called Okaihau. It's where you'll find Settlers Way Country Store.
Co-owner Jackie Poole told Newshub Okaihau was often a pit stop for holidaymakers.
"From the use of facilities, coffees and icecreams and things like that, and so our regular customers from Kaitaia… they aren't doing that because they aren't coming this way," she said.
That's because a crucial piece of the highway through the Mangamuka Gorge has been closed since August when it was damaged by severe weather causing multiple slips.
Since its closure people have been choosing different routes north, using the Twin Coast Discovery route or SH10 - which completely bypasses towns like Okaihau.
Businesses in Okaihau are fearful about how the road closure will impact summer trade.
Sapphire Cafe owner Kelly Musante said the closure is taking "a lot of people away".
"They are all going different ways," she said. "They don't go near us. That's a lot of tourism we are getting back from COVID and now we lose it because we don't have the main highway in our country, [and] we don't have a way from one city to another.
"It's horrible."
And Kaitaia Business Association Andrea Panther said it's not just businesses south of the gorge, but north too.
"We know of people that would normally come [but] are probably going to choose to go elsewhere this year. There is definitely that.
"We just don’t know how it’s going to go."
Waka Kotahi's Randhir Karma said the transport agency has secured $100 million to get the Mangamuka Gorge road back to its original condition and work is already underway.
"So we have crews up there doing some crack sealing doing some work to channel water away from the road and also some drainage works to make sure the soil is actually drying out."
But there's still a lot of uncertainty. Waka Kotahi said it still doesn't know how much it will cost to repair the road and when it could reopen
In the meantime, business owners in towns like Okaihau have a message for travellers this summer: Take the time to visit.
