Welcome to our Sunday monthly series, that reminds you of what you may have missed during the last month.

May 2022

What’s Hot………..

Postie Plus moving back to Alexandra after a three year absence. Shoppers in the town were left disappointed when it closed its doors back in March 2019. Management at the time said they were not able to come to an agreement on terms of the lease with the landlord.

Opening another store at 5 Mile in Queenstown instead, the company has now decided to close that and move back to Alexandra - this time securing a lease in Ennis Street - where the Oasis Opportunity Shop is. The new shop opens in June - we’re so looking forward to seeing the range of warm winter clothing back again, especially the PJs!

What’s Not…………..

Wallabies apparently. If you see one of these hopping marsupials then it needs to be reported.  

The wallaby has been causing the Otago Regional Council and Environment Canterbury grief for a few years now, and signs have been put up on the region’s borders asking the public to keep a look out.

Apparently more of a pest than possums, they eat native and exotic seedlings and pasture.

If not kept under control the animals could spread to cover more than a third of the country over the next 50 years.

The councils are asking the public to report any sightings in the Otago region to the national website reportwallabies.nz.

What’s Definitely Not Hot…….

People dumping animal carcasses in the Lower Manorburn Recreation Reserve. 

The Central Otago District Council is concerned, particularly for the health and safety of users of the reserve, including their pets - and in particular because of the proximity to the swimming dam.

It Has Been A Great Month For…………

Southland Graffiti artist Deow who put up his hand to repaint the Big Fruit sculpture (no easy task for anyone). The Central Otago District Council had been looking for a specialised painter for over a year, but Naylor Love Central Otago knew just the person - having worked with Danny Owens (aka Deow) before. 

Danny said he’d never experienced anything like it in his life, despite painting large murals on buildings in Los Angeles. He also confirmed the wind up at 17m while reaching out for tips of the pear leaves was something else.  

It Has Been A Bad Month For……………….

The Southland houseboat owner who got stopped at the 11th hour mooring his new ‘structure’ on Lake Dunstan.  

Making national news headlines, the engineer admitted publicly that he might have got the design a bit wrong, but is still adamant his houseboat is a vessel ( it has a motor out the back), but is also clearly set up for living in.  

To pour more cold water on the project, (how many play on words can we come up with?!) the CODC said he needs a separate consent for a structure - but that comes with way more conditions. The media awaits the next chapter in this story.

You Said It………………………..

“It was the most challenging surface I have ever painted on… it was definitely very hairy up there,” Southland graffiti artist Deow on his experience painting the BIG FRUIT in Cromwell for the first time.