Well good day Wānaka, even though it’s been back to work for many I hope you have all been able to take advantage of the magnificent weather we have enjoyed here in paradise.

What have we been up to this past week? Well it certainly has been a deep bag of all sorts for us at the station.

You may have noticed several checkpoints spring up around town with out of town staff manning them.

Queenstown Road Policing have been assisting with these alcohol checkpoints, and on the whole an improvement with a reduced number of drivers being caught over the limit.

There is still the odd one or two. One person when signalled to pull over failed to do so, creating a fleeing driver situation. His vehicle was located and promptly impounded, and he is going to have a wee chat and face the consequences in due course.

A very frustrating event this week, where a youth decided to play a prank and pretend to be drowning while swimming in the Clutha River. A passer by jumped in and swam out to save him, to be told it was a prank. Given New Zealand’s current atrocious level of water fatalities, this type of behaviour is unacceptable and could easily have led to a disastrous outcome.

A case of vandalism occurred at the Wānaka Rodeo club rooms this past week. Doors were kicked in and a vast array of damage caused inside the building. Enquiries are continuing into this.

Reports came in of a person with an offensive weapon around Albert Town this week. A young person was seen with what was described as a butterfly knife. This was confiscated and will be destroyed with parental permission.

Now we are mostly back to work please pay attention to your manner of driving, as we are. We will continue to enforce the rules around seatbelts, cell phone usage when driving, speed and of course alcohol. And on that, please remember after a day out on the lake or river in your boat or jet ski that you must get it home. Its all very nice to have a few beers on the water in this fine weather when a thirst can be built up quickly, but remember that alcohol is still affecting you as you tow your pleasure craft home, so know when to call it quits with the alcohol when on the water.

Speaking of alcohol, it seems we are getting back to the old routine of people not being able to control themselves when on a night out. People have been trespassed from various establishments during the week, with one person being caught climbing over the roof to gain access to a bar after having been refused entry due to alcohol consumption.

There were a couple of crashes in the area in the past week, fortunately only minor in nature with no one getting hurt. So please be careful when driving even if you know the road well things can change and sneak up on you causing poor decision making at times which can result in the unexpected happening. So, while driving please stay alert and stay alive.

Well that’s all from me for this week, so keep safe and remember we still have a vast quantity of lost property at the station, so if you’ve lost it, we may have it, and it's well worth coming in to check.