Hello Wānaka and surrounds and visitors to our stunning area.

Well, the cold weather is here in force. We haven’t had any crashes in the frost yet, but we have had one crash on the gritted area of road.

There have been a number of crashes reported on the frosty roads elsewhere in the region so “BE CAREFUL”.

I came over the Lindis Pass on Thursday (May 26) night at -5 degrees and the road looked like any other road. Naturally I drove ‘to the conditions’ and was no issue but if I hadn’t it may have been a different story. We so often attend a crash that wouldn't have happend if the driver had been travelling even 10-15km/h slower.

As a rule, if your dashboard is recording an air temperature of say one degree then the road surface temperature will be around -5/-6 degrees. This should give you some idea of what you’re driving on, particularly if there is water on the road or in the surface cracks.

We also attended a minor crash at a stop sign on the intersection of Brownston Street and McDougall Street.

We conducted some work on distracted drivers and issued five speeding notices, three notices for operating a phone while driving, one notice for a learner driver breaching conditions and two driver’s license suspensions. I am sure people would rather spend that hard earned money on things they want or need to spend that money on but those were choices they made.

Two people were seen attempting to steal two mopeds from a local business. Because they were locked, they didn't get far.

We continue to work on illegal firearms and recovered several over the last few days.

Please lock your vehicles. We attended a theft from a vehicle that occurred in the Hāwea area.

We have arrested a female for multiple thefts from local shops. Remember to report any incident via online or 105 or pop into the station. Any information helps.

This week six drink drivers were apprehended. We will not stop in our efforts.

Currently we are Investigating an assault at a local licensed premises from Saturday night. If you have any information that could help let us know.

Take care of each other everyone, be safe and don’t forget to enjoy this stunning time of year safely and don’t forget to look up or smell the roses.

Like I always say. Chance looks like fate in the tail lights…

Take care Wānaka.