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This week saw a couple of people walking as a result of their speed. Please remember the limit in nearly all the streets around the Wānaka, Lake Hāwea and Cardrona areas are 40km/h. If you drive more than 40km/h over any speed limit you will lose your drivers’ licence for 28 days. It’s going to be a cold walk.

There were two Crashes on the Crown Range Road this week. Please slow down on the bridges and please take extra care over the nights now that the roads are getting wet and Jack Frost is visiting.

The snow has arrived and the guys at the station are all competing over the old Wānaka snow rhyme. Snow in May won’t stay… and it just goes on from there.

Winter driving should now be looked at. Check the tyres, have a go at putting the chains on. If you have a new car or are new to the south then get some chains. Learn how to put them on yourself as there is not much help out there in the early hours of the morning or a cold winter’s night.

A couple of cars have had their identity markers removed, one after a crash and one after it broke down in a remote car park. What this does of course is perk our ears up as to whether or not the cars are stolen. Where are the people and are they OK? Are they lost in the wilderness? So please take responsibility for your things. And let us know what is going on, we don’t bite.

An incident of shoplifting was reported at Mitre 10 on Tuesday. We have an identity of that person and will be looking to locate them shortly.

PHOTO: Wānaka Sun

Drink driving is still a thing apparently. Of to court go a couple of people and some are getting a $250 ticket and 50 demerit points for blowing between the 250 and 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath (that’s the adult limits). Walk …Run …or get a ride home.

The weekend didn’t cause Wānaka Police too many dramas, however there is a worrying number of people who are drinking too much and not making arrangements to get home. If you are too intoxicated, you may be refused a ride with a taxi. Aggression towards taxi drivers in these circumstances will not be tolerated. Please take responsibility for how much you are drinking and have a backup plan to get home.

Good luck to the kids doing Blast this week. They are testing themselves against the Police Physical Competency Test (PCT) which is what we use to ensure we’re fit for chasing offenders and eating donuts. We’ll have some future Police officers in the making.

– By Ian Henderson

Senior Constable, NZPD

After such a lovely autumn, last week’s sudden chill was a bit of a shock. It was also a reminder that frost and snow can create dangerous driving conditions, so if you haven't already done so, sign up to Queenstown Lakes District Council's free Winter Road Report at www.qldc.govt.nz/winter-road-reports. Emailed every morning through winter, the report gives an overview of road conditions across the district.

I also recommend you sign up for Council's community text alert system. Supply your phone number and the locations you're interested in, and the team will flick you a text when there's a road closure you should know about, icy and snowy conditions, or other emergencies affecting our community. Sign up for free at www.qldc.govt.nz/text-alerts.

Lakefront development

Construction on Stage Two of the Wānaka Lakefront Development Plan is racing along and remains on track to be complete in September. The temporary closure of Ardmore Street between McDougall and Dungarvon streets continues, and I'd like to thank both pedestrians and drivers for their patience while the detour via Brownston Street is in place.

Youth and community facility

Good progress to turn the old Mitre 10 building on Plantation Road, Wānaka, into a youth and community centre is being made. If you’re a local group looking for new or additional space for your activities, watch for an expression of interest process, starting on May 30. While we won’t be able to accommodate every activity, this process will ensure we’re capturing a broad range of local groups and understanding demand. Full details of the expression of interest process will be available at letstalk.qldc.govt.nz.

Bin checks

Council is running a kerbside recycling bin check trial to help reduce contamination. Bin checkers, wearing high-vis vests with Save Our Stuff logos, will be out early before the recycling trucks do their rounds. If a bin is heavily contaminated with rubbish, it will not be emptied. If you are unsure what to recycle, check www.qldc.govt.nz/services/ rubbish-recycling, or call the recycling hotline (03) 443 0024.

Mount Iron

Council continues to work on acquiring nearly 100ha of land around Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron. We have until November 8 to gain all necessary consents, and settling the deal may take a further six months. During this time, it's important we remember large parts of land on Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron are privately owned. If you're climbing Mount Iron, please stick to the public track and abide by signage along the way identifying where private property begins. If you want updates on Council's acquisition of the land, sign up at www.qldc.govt.nz/mount-iron.

Building consents and inspections

Our building consent team works hard to meet statutory timeframes for processing consents and MBIE guidelines for inspections. In the past 12 months, just over 97% of consents were processed in less than 20 working days. However, both staff and contractors have been affected by Covid-19, which means it may take a little longer to process consents and complete inspections over the next two months. Council will be doing everything it can to reduce the impact and appreciates your support and patience.

Celebrate Arbor Day

I’ll be celebrating Arbor Day with Deputy Mayor Calum MacLeod by planting a deciduous tree at Wānaka Station Park on Friday June 3. If you're keen to celebrate too, why not check out one of the amazing organisations that work with trees in our district, like Te Kākano Aotearoa Trust. They're always looking for volunteers to lend a hand with nursery sessions and tree planting.

Adult Reading Challenge

Are you up for QLDC Libraries’ reading challenge this winter? Tackle that to-be-read pile. Read something you wouldn’t normally choose. Tick off at least six categories and you could win a book voucher. Collect a challenge card from your local library or download one from codc-qldc.govt.nz.

Election 2022

This year is a local election year, so if you know someone who would make a great community board member, councillor, or even mayor, talk to them today. Nominations open on July 15. For more information, go to www. qldc.govt.nz/elections.

Now is also the time to check you are enrolled to vote. To be eligible, you must be: 18 years or older a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and have lived in Aotearoa New Zealand for one year or more continuously at some point.

To enrol or update your details, go to www. vote.nz. Or freephone 0800 36 76 56 or free text 3676 to get a form sent to you in the mail.

Next drop-in session

If anyone wants to discuss a Council issue with the Wānaka Community Board, call into the Wānaka Recreation Centre between noon and 1pm next Wednesday 1 June. No appointment is necessary.

LETTERS

I don’t understand…

I don’t know about you, but I don’t understand what’s happening.

Day after day we are hearing and seeing on the news dire predictions of global warming, and the destruction of our protective vital atmosphere.

On television the presenters introduce very serious articles on global warming with such painfully unhappy faces. Then, in the next article to come up, their faces brighten up and they happily comment on new developments on the potential booming of international tourism to New Zealand. The government has even bailed-out the massive Air New Zealand company.

We also continue to hear about how the Queenstown Lakes district needs another airport which should be based in the Upper Clutha region.

There are predictions and indications of even greater numbers of tourists planning to leave our country and fly all around the world polluting the atmosphere and adding to global warming.

Can you see where I am heading?

My wife and I have decided that we cannot justify ever again heading back to England to see my aging siblings – we have done a lot of travelling in the past so must have created terrible damage, but in those days we have an excuse – we did not know about the catastrophic consequences it would cause to our planet. All people of today do know, but few seem to care – not yet.

Their actions indicate no thought of the future of their children, grandchildren, and future generations.

Soon, the reality must set in, and longdistance travel will be the first to suffer. So – we don’t need another airport in the Upper Clutha.

Stuart Landsborough

Wānaka

thewanakasun.co.nz

Sun News New programme to tackle litter

Keep New Zealand Beautiful has announced its latest campaign.

Backyard Battle is a citizen science programme which aims to contribute to a better understanding of the life of litter.

“Litter starts out as something that we’ve created and used,” said KNZB chief Heather Saunderson. “But if it’s inappropriately disposed of, these products become litter which pollutes not only our land but also our waterways and seas, causing harm to the environment we live in, the water we drink and the ecosystems we’re a part of.”

The Backyard Battle programme – named to recognise the battle to eliminate litter from the country’s collective Kiwi backyard – is the second citizen science programme launched this year by Keep New Zealand Beautiful and follows a similar programme for data collection.

“The use of citizen science means more individual people can cover more ground and collect more data about litter,” said Ms. Saunderson. “Backyard Battle uses a very similar methodology as our National Litter Audit, but instead of being conducted by qualified scientists, each survey will be conducted by passionate community members, regular people who are keen to make a difference by battling Aotearoa’s litter problem.”

In 2019, Keep New Zealand Beautiful carried out a National Litter Audit which involved collecting details about rubbish checked at a series of sites. The findings have influenced policy development at national and regional level.

A follow up to that programme will go ahead this year with checks made at the same sites. "It will enable KNZB to see how things have changed and develop action plans.”

Backyard Battle works in conjunction with Keep New Zealand Beautiful’s other citizen science programme Upstream Battle, which focuses on litter in areas within 10 metres of a waterway.

Schools, community groups and volunteers throughout New Zealand can conduct a Backyard Battle survey at any time of the year, in any inland location in the country.

Criú comprises, from left, Kris Neilson, James McNamara, Rennie Pearson, Bob McNeil and Duncan Davidson. The Irish head to Cardrona

Wellington based five-piece Irish band Criú is coming down south - with the help of the New Zealand Irish Embassy - for one weekend of shows.

The band will perform five shows in three days in Dunedin, Cardrona, Gore and Invercargill.

Their Cardona Hall show on Saturday night sold out – prompting a second performance there on Saturday afternoon.

This band was started by Dunedin based Rennie Pearson with musicians Duncan Davidson, James McNamara and Bob McNeil.

“The band has had a few different members over the years but we are back to the original crew with the addition of Kris Nielson on Uilleann Pipes,” Pearson, who also acts as manager and musical director, said.

“We did a similar weekend of gigs in Wellington last year which went very well. Peter Ryan, the Irish Ambassador was at two of our shows and loved it. We have actually worked with the embassy on a few occasions in the past and I have been supported by them doing my solo at the Dunedin Fringe Festival as well.

“Peter has always been supportive of Irish music in New Zealand and having a Kiwi band playing traditional Irish music around the country fits in well with their values. The reason why we are playing down south is because I wanted to bring these guys down here - where I live - to share the music with people in Dunedin, Otago and Southland where there is not much traditional Irish music being played, especially in a concert setting.

Pearson approached singer songwriter Martin Carthy, who runs the Cardrona Hall, “and he said he would have us.”

“The goal is to bring a piece of Irish culture to the south, share the traditional music and connect with people of all cultural backgrounds with a performance that is uplifting and entertaining.”

Combining the sounds of the wooden flute, fiddle, guitar, accordion, tin whistles and uilleann pipes (the Irish pipes), the musicians weave together melodies that been played, in some cases, for hundreds of years.

Fish deaths go unsolved

Whatever killed as many as 150 trout in a stream near Queenstown was probably gone by the time checks on Home Creek were carried out.

The Otago Regional Council launched an investigation into the incident after getting reports of fish deaths on May 1 and sent water samples for testing.

This week the council revealed the samples were inconclusive.

“We were hoping the tests would help us establish what happened along the stream,” ORC Compliance Manager Tami Sargeant said.

“It’s unfortunate, the samples are inconclusive and don’t help us to narrow down any offending substance.”

She says the problem may have been that the pollutant which might have caused the fish deaths may have only been in the waterway for a short time and wasn’t in the stream when the water samples were taken.

The stream is a mix of rural and industrial, and downstream it passes through residential and commercial areas.

Otago Regional Council staff visited the site over two days, taking water samples and retrieving the dead fish, including one native galaxiid.

No information has yet been received from the public, who can still come forward on the ORC’s Pollution Hotline on 0800 800 033.

Rejig plan for visitors’ guide

Lake Wānaka Tourism is asking members to consider options on how the community is presented in a visitor guide.

At present, the guide is a 70-page folded brochure with paid advertising.

In a prelude to a survey of members, which closed yesterday, the organisation says it is considering moving to a condensed A2 foldout brochure that focuses on the community’s story with links back to its website and the operator listings “as well as access to real-time availability and booking information”.

“This would be fully funded by Lake Wānaka Tourism, with no inclusion of operator listings and therefore no associated operator costs. Businesses could continue to opt for a separate paid listing on the printed map. This format is in keeping with the official visitor guides of our neighbouring regions,” members are told.

It says the change proposal comes as “organisation and industry moves towards a more sustainable and regenerative approach”.