This is not a new track, but it's new to the Great Walks. (Contributor "mlgb" has previously mentioned the Hump Ridge Track.)
In gaining Great Walk status, the track will get upgrades and be more extensively promoted..
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southl...ision-welcomed

Thanks for that info. I went quite early in the walk's history, I learned about it when I stopped into an i-Site somewhere in the Catlins, I think. Most of the other walkers were local, although there were a few from Japan. I wonder if I still would think it was "easy", LOL.... I actually preferred the muddy downslopes over boardwalk, easier on the knees but harder on the terrain. I kept thinking it couldn't be sustainable. I believe I read that much more had been boardwalked on the second leg.

I remember a little bit of snow/sleet, freezing metal huts, and getting an extra sleeping bag from the attendant. And soooo many sandflies down by the coast. I also remember magical forests, seeing my first Kaka, and drinking Stone's ginger wine with the locals (they had helicoptered one backpack up).

And soooo many sandflies down by the coast.

We'd considered walking a small portion of the track one year, but the blood-thirsty beasts convinced us otherwise. From that trip report:

At Tuatapere we sought out the Humpridge Track and the Southern Coastal Track, which share the same trailhead. As bad as the sandflies were in the parking lot, I can’t imagine what they’d be like along the coastal track; we weren’t even tempted to walk a small section. It made me itch just thinking about it.

haha..welcome to Fiordland...