First Rainbow Run of the season popular

The wet spring weather cleared just in time for Wanaka to host Sport Otago’s first Rainbow Run of the season last Saturday (October 10). 

Around 270 people walked, jogged, skipped and ran the five kilometre circuit around the Rugby Club grounds and Pembroke Park which took them past a light spray by the Fire Brigade to make the colours stick and then on through five “colour stations” where they were showered in coloured powder.

Sports Otago’s Wanaka based community sports advisor Tiny Carruthers said the sponsors  Night ‘n’ Day, Jennian Homes, Flooring Extra, Alpine Motels and the Queenstown Lakes District Council all said how well the event was run and how much fun they had nailing everyone with paint.

Charlotte Jackson and the Mint crew’s help was invaluable, he said. All money raised by the participants goes to Sporting Chance to help young people with fewer advantages get into sport.

Similar Rainbow Run events will be held in Balclutha and Dunedin over the next five weeks.

Speed limits changes in effect

The new 40km/h speed limit on Ballantyne Road runs past the Police Station and Golf Course Road before it switches back to 50km/h. PHOTO: Wanaka App

A plethora of new 40km/h speed limit signs have been popping up all over Wanaka, Albert Town and Hāwea this week as the council enacts its revised Speed Limits Bylaw which was adopted in August last year.

The bylaw reduces the speed limit on all 50km/h urban roads in the Upper Clutha to 40km/h. Some arterial roads which begin in the urban centre, like Aubrey and Ballantyne, will switch between 40km/h to 50km/h to 60km/h. Golf Course Road will remain at 70km/h but access to it from both Cardrona Valley and Ballantyne roads is 40km/h.

“Travelling at 50km/h down McDougall Street to the lake was hard enough on the brakes but now it’s 40km/h,” a local truck driver told the Wanaka App.

In June 2019 a hearing panel, chaired by deputy mayor Calum Macleod, considered 357 submissions and heard from ten submitters to the review of the council’s Speed Bylaw. The majority of submitters did not want speed limits reduced permanently on all urban roads.

Dogs better behaved, says council

Aspiring Avalanche dogs Rocket (left) and Wizzid. PHOTO: Supplied

While the district has recorded more registered dogs than ever before, the number of complaints about dog behaviour and roaming dogs has actually decreased, according the the Queenstown Lakes District Council's (QLDC) annual Dog Control Policy and Practices Report 2019-2020.

There was a 7.05 per cent increase in the number of registered dogs from 5033 in 2018-19 to 5388 in 2019-20, but despite this growth the number of dog related complaints dropped by around 9.6 per cent over the12 months.

Dog control enforcement staff spend most of their time responding to requests from the community regarding roaming dogs and staff said they were pleased to record a decrease in roaming dogs proportionate to the increase in dog numbers. The same was also true of dogs being impounded.

“Lockdown may have contributed to the slightly lower number of impounds, as council was more focused on reuniting dogs with their owners than impounding them over that time,” the report said.

The report also covered the number of dogs classified as dangerous (four) or having menacing behaviour; probationary and disqualified dog owners; and the number of reported dog attacks (62). 

The QLDC runs dog training classes once a year in Wanaka. Two classes led by a professional dog trainer were held at the Wanaka Pound in July with seven dogs in each class. 

Doggy calendar returns

Tui sitting above Jackson Rise in Luggate. PHOTO: Supplied

The Dogs of Luggate Calendar, which is now in its third year, will incorporate entries from Luggate, Queensberry and Tarras this year.

All the proceeds from the sales each year go towards the new Luggate Memorial Centre, said organiser Denise Barr.

“To date we have raised just under $2000 and the popularity of the calendars is growing. Entries have just closed and this year we have 31 gorgeous entries, with many photos showcasing not just the dogs, but the beauty of our landscape,” she said.

Oakey and Teeka sitting above the Devil’s Nook. PHOTO: Supplied

There will be a public vote for the month of July (on the Denise Barr Harcourts Wanaka Facebook page) and the winner receives the honour of being Miss or Mr July, and will receive a free calendar and pet food voucher. 

This year’s judges are the staff of Vetlife Wanaka. Judging finishes by October 23, and calendars will be available for sale from mid-November.

Big commercial trucks finish tour in Wanaka

The trucks at the Clyde Dam. PHOTO: Truck Journal

Trucks, big and small, will converge on Wanaka this afternoon after two weeks touring the South Island from Blenheim to Invercargill, Timaru to Te Anau and everywhere in between.

Wanaka is the final stop for the Southern Classic Commercials southern circuit tour this year, and the trucks will park up on Central Machine Hire land (Three Parks) before attending the farewell shindig at the Central Machine Hire Shed where a number of vintage tractors housed in the shed have been relocated to make space for tables and chairs for 160 guests.

Tour organiser Fiona Vincent, from Timaru, said truck enthusiasts from all over the country gathered every two years to drive a circuit of interesting places, alternating between the North and South Islands.

This circuit started in Blenheim on October 1 and included stops at the Traction Engine and Transport Museum in Timaru to attend a ‘horsepower rally’, a dinner at Larnach Castle (parking in Dunedin was challenging, she admitted), an adventure across the Clyde Dam, the Edendale Vintage Machinery Club, the Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre in Mandeville and a display in Nightcaps, Southland, of traction engine steam driven sawmill. 

Around 90 vehicles registered for the tour, including 22 down from the North Island, together with 185 drivers and travelling companions, Fiona said, but not all of them have completed the full circuit, instead choosing to do sections as preferred.