A group of medical specialists are regularly winging their way to Central Otago from Dunedin, providing care to people across the district. While Dunstan Hospital has specialists visiting most days of the week from Dunedin Hospital, some make the trip with Mainland Air so they can provide longer clinics. Pilot Jordan Kean said the Dunedin to Alexandra flight, using a nine-seater Piper Chieftain, takes about 30 minutes, giving specialists less time travelling by car and more time caring for their patients.Those frequent flyers often include specialists from medical oncology, obstetrics and gynaecology, elderly health and general surgery.There have been 49 return flights in the past 12 months.Dunstan Hospital has a contract with Mainland Air to provide the flights and also has a contract with Te Whatu Ora Southern for some of the specialist services.Others are delivered directly by Te Whatu Ora at Dunstan Hospital.Te Whatu Ora group director of operations Hamish Brown said the organisation was committed to providing all New Zealanders access to healthcare services no matter where they lived.Dunstan Hospital, where medical specialists from Dunedin work from on a regular basis. PHOTO: The Central App“Throughout Aotearoa, specialists and clinical teams travel by air and road from tertiary hospitals to rural areas to provide care and treatment to the community.”He said specialists in cardiology, continence and stoma specialist nurses, gastroenterology, endoscopes and gastroscopes, colposcopy, neurology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, respiratory, retinal photography, general surgery and breast services also make regular visits from Dunedin to Dunstan Hospital.Specialists see up to 18 patients per clinic.The mobile surgical bus also visits Dunstan Hospital six times a year where minor surgical services are provided from.Hamish said bringing specialists to Dunstan Hospital meant some patients did not need to travel to Dunedin or other locations to access specialist care. However, some patients still need to travel for specific care such as radiation, some MRI scans and surgery.He said as the Central Otago and Clutha population continues to grow, it was likely there would be different health care needs for the community in the future.“We are working collaboratively with our regional and national Te Whatu Ora colleagues and primary care to identify community needs and develop a rural health plan.”Dunstan Hospital runs an after-hours general practice service, an urgent healthcare service, which is open from 6pm to 8am, seven days a week.It can be accessed by calling the Healthline on 0800 611 116 and, if appropriate, the triage service will make arrangements for people to be seen by the after-hours GP service. In a medical emergency call 111 for an ambulance.To find out who the on-call doctor is at weekends, click on The Central App’s medical button.

Power has been restored to all Central residents affected by a widespread unplanned outage earlier this morning.Residents in Clyde, Alexandra, Teviot Valley and the Maniototo now have power.Aurora Energy general manager operations and network performance Matt Settle said the widespread outage impacted almost 8000 customers across the Central Otago network region, extending from Clyde to Ettrick and Lauder Flat.He said there are two main power lines that feed into those areas from the Clyde Grid Exit Point, where power is taken from the national electricity grid.One of those was out of service for planned maintenance at the request of Transpower.“The second line tripped and this caused the unplanned outage to the region.”Fault response crews patrolled the lines, but could not identify any specific damage.Customers were progressively returned to service throughout the morning.“Our fault crews are continuing to investigate this so we can identify any intermittent issues that may have been involved and resolve them,” he said.“We apologise to all customers who experienced a power outage and thank them for their patience while we worked to restore power.”Keep up to date on power outages by clicking on The Central App’s power outages button. Read more: Power outage widespread in Central

Power has been restored to a large portion of Central Otago this morning, with the exception of some residents who are still waiting.Areas still affected by the outage are Beaumont, Ettrick, Island Block, Lake Onslow, Millers Flat, Raes Junction, Teviot and parts of Clyde.The Aurora Energy website predicts power would have been restored to Clyde by about 12pm, while all other areas were likely to get their power back on by 1pm.Earlier this morning there were 1030 customers affected in Clyde and 6949 across the wider Alexandra area.An Aurora Energy spokesperson said contractors have been sent to investigate the outages and its website would be updated as soon as it gathers more information.However, the website is also not available to some users."Please note the website is currently timing out for some users and we are looking into this so if it doesn’t work for you straight away please try again soon."Keep up to date on power outages via The Central App.The Central App note:We note that when we did a push notification, so many thousands clicked on this at the same time that it stopped our notification system from working. Please always give a few minutes and try again. It is rare hundreds of thousands click at once. However, this rare case happened this morning, showing a strong interest in this information.

Central Otago public swimming pools continue to be popular this summer, with figures on par with the previous year.Statistics supplied by the Central Otago District Council showed that in December the Cromwell Swim Centre had 5614 visitors and the Molyneux Aquatic Centre had 5411.Numbers for January were also strong so far with 2644 using the Cromwell pool half way through the month, and 3175 in Alexandra.A spokesperson for the council said things may slow down for the second half of this month due to people going home from holiday.The new Ida MacDonald Roxburgh pool had also been popular and committee chair Sally Feinerman said they have received excellent feedback on the new facility.“Over Christmas we had lots of visitors enjoy the facility as well as locals.”The pool opened in December and was mostly being run by volunteers this season, with two staff employed on a part time basis. Guests at the opening of the new Ida MacDonald Roxburgh Pool in early December. PHOTO: SuppliedOut in Ranfurly, pool staff extended its opening hours this summer to Monday to Friday from 7am-6pm and Saturday and Sunday, 10am-5pm.   It had previously operated on a split shift and that had put some people off, council said.Meanwhile, Cromwell pool’s new water-sourced heat pump system was finally working well after teething problems over winter.The carbon-footprint-friendly system was an upgrade on the LPG gas heating system, but had initially struggled to heat the pool to a desired temperature - particularly the spa.The new system operated using energy gained from Cromwell’s main water supply lines, but monitoring systems showed that at times there wasn’t the amount of consistent water flow to meet the design need of the new heat pump.Contractors have since added an extra heat reclaim coil in the exhaust airstream of the pool to compensate for when the street-main water flow dropped too low. Last year the council estimated the new system cost $900,000, with a $100,000 grant from the Government's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

Book lovers wanting another summer read will get a chance to browse thousands of titles in Cromwell this week.The Rotary Club of Cromwell’s annual Summer Book Sale, which usually raises about $10,000, will return to the town’s bowling club on Alpha St, this weekend, starting on Friday from 4pm to 7pm.Organisers will open the doors again on Saturday from 9am to 5pm and on Sunday from 9am to 3pm.Organising committee member Pam Broadhead said thousands of titles will be on offer, divided into fiction and non-fiction, puzzles, magazines, cds and dvds. Money raised from the event goes towards local and international projects.Pam said, locally, youth are set to benefit as the Rotary Club of Cromwell continues to support breakfasts in schools, and also distributes illustrated dictionaries to children in classrooms.The club also supports a range of international projects, including ShelterBox, an initiative which provides emergency shelter and essential supplies to help communities devastated by disaster and conflict.Pam said funding from the Cromwell Club of Rotary for ShelterBox is usually distributed to the Pacific Islands.The Summer Book Sale is made possible by a group of about 15 to 20 volunteers who assist on the day, answering questions and filling gaps with more books throughout each day.Pam said the event coincides with a busy weekend in the town, with the Cromwell Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival returning on Saturday.“It’s turned out for us, to be a really good weekend for locals and visitors to top up their book shelves.”To find out more visit the Summer Book Sale event listing.

Cherry and berry juice made from Central Otago and Motueka waste fruit has been filling supermarkets all over Australasia - and it’s all made in Alexandra.Eden Orchards moved its bottling operation from a small site on Boundary Rd to the former Otago Bees factory in Dunstan Rd in December, increasing production to 15,000 bottles a day, from 7500.Company founders Gary and Steph Bignell originally used waste cherries from their Blenheim orchard back in 2018, and then sold that to buy a berry farm in Motueka as a semi-retirement project.   Central Otago was the logical choice for making the juice because of the large number of cherry orchards in the south.The growth over the past 12 months has been huge and their son Cameron now runs the company, based from Sydney, with an office in Auckland as well - employing 15 staff.But, for four weeks of the year the family get together in Alexandra, overseeing 700 tonne of fruit coming in from 12 different growers.Employing up to 50 staff in peak season, they have been sending their cherry and cherry/berry juices all over the country - 200 supermarkets now stock it, with a further 100 in Australia.“That saves a lot of fruit from being dumped,” Gary said.  "Everybody wants to be part of the sustainability journey.”Investing in state-of-the art technology, a lot of work has gone into converting the factory to suit their needs.The family started out selling their juices by attending weekend markets, trade shows and field days every weekend, before hitting social media to target their customers directly.“Back in the day as a family we did everything. But, if you said that one day we’d be producing 300,000 bottles a season I would’ve said that’s ridiculous,” Steph said.The company is also involved with the Central Otago District Council (CODC) and Plant & Food Research, as part of its sustainability journey to look at more ways of using waste fruit for the industry.There’s fruit leather in the mix now and this season they are also trialling frozen pitted cherries. Eventually they will look to partner with another New Zealand company to supply them the fruit for their own products.A report commissioned by the CODC in 2022 showed about 6000 tonnes or 15% of fruit grown in Central Otago does not end up being consumed, but with Eden Orchards’ innovation that is all about to change.

Cherry and berry juice made from Central Otago and Motueka waste fruit has been filling supermarkets all over Australasia - and it’s all made in Alexandra.Eden Orchards moved its bottling operation from a small site on Boundary Rd to the former Otago Bees factory in Dunstan Rd in December, increasing production to 15,000 bottles a day, from 7500.Company founders Gary and Steph Bignell originally used waste cherries from their Blenheim orchard back in 2018, and then sold that to buy a berry farm in Motueka as a semi-retirement project.   Central Otago was the logical choice for making the juice because of the large number of cherry orchards in the south.The growth over the past 12 months has been huge and their son Cameron now runs the company, based from Sydney, with an office in Auckland as well - employing 15 staff.But, for four weeks of the year the family get together in Alexandra, overseeing 700 tonne of fruit coming in from 12 different growers.Employing up to 50 staff in peak season, they have been sending their cherry and cherry/berry juices all over the country - 200 supermarkets now stock it, with a further 100 in Australia.“That saves a lot of fruit from being dumped,” Gary said.  "Everybody wants to be part of the sustainability journey.”Investing in state-of-the art technology, a lot of work has gone into converting the factory to suit their needs.The family started out selling their juices by attending weekend markets, trade shows and field days every weekend, before hitting social media to target their customers directly.“Back in the day as a family we did everything. But, if you said that one day we’d be producing 300,000 bottles a season I would’ve said that’s ridiculous,” Steph said.The company is also involved with the Central Otago District Council (CODC) and Plant & Food Research, as part of its sustainability journey to look at more ways of using waste fruit for the industry.There’s fruit leather in the mix now and this season they are also trialling frozen pitted cherries. Eventually they will look to partner with another New Zealand company to supply them the fruit for their own products.A report commissioned by the CODC in 2022 showed about 6000 tonnes or 15% of fruit grown in Central Otago does not end up being consumed, but with Eden Orchards’ innovation that is all about to change.

A 36-year-old man driving erratically around Cromwell on Monday was nearly six times over the legal excess breath alcohol limit before police pulled him over. Senior Sergeant Clint Wright said the man produced an evidential result of 1403 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.“This limit was extremely disturbing knowing he had been driving around Cromwell, endangering the public and a number of passengers in the vehicle.”Police were informed of the incident and located the vehicle during enquiries.Snr Sgt Wright said it was infrequent to find a driver with that level of intoxication, and usually when they were it was because they were on spirits and higher powered alcohol, or were alcohol dependent.His licence was suspended for 28 days and he is due to appear in the Alexandra District Court on February 14.On Saturday, Cromwell police also arrested a 19-year-old man for threatening behaviour towards a couple of cyclists on Ray St. He will appear in court on April 18.  Back in Alexandra on January 10, a 31-year-old local man was arrested for breaching bail, resisting arrest and assaulting police. He appeared in the Queenstown District Court and was remanded in custody to appear in the Alexandra District Court on January 17 via audio visual link. Also on the 10th of January, a 24-year-old man was arrested for breaching his court imposed bail conditions.He was remanded in custody to appear in the Invercargill District Court where he was bailed to reappear in the Alexandra District Court on January 17.  

For more than 20 years, the Alexandra Clyde & Districts Business Group has been a staunch advocate for the towns south of the dam to be able to thrive again.The group was formed because in the early 1990s everything changed, and the population explosion moved north to Cromwell, Wānaka and Queenstown once the Clyde dam was under way.In the early 1980s, Alexandra once had the only supermarket in the entire Central Otago/Queenstown Lakes area, and everyone used to flock there to do their shopping.“Alexandra was the fastest growing town in the South Island,” group member and local businessman Russell Ibbotson said.He said before the new Countdown supermarket opened in Alexandra, many families used to, and some still do, drive to Queenstown regularly to shop at the bigger food retail stores for bulk deals.But, the group was concerned that without strong population growth and new developments, the towns would lose future ground and government departments would move north.In 2011 the business group took a petition signed by 1300 people to the Central Otago District Council asking for a more positive approach to economic development.There have been several full page adverts taken out in local newspapers by the group outlining some of their concerns - the most recent one before Christmas.They believe developments have continued to favour Cromwell over Alexandra, and that some retailers were struggling to meet operational costs because they just don’t get customers.“If the towns (Alexandra and Clyde) do not have a strong and vibrant retail sector, businesses will be forced to close, which will then result in a loss of services available to the community.”Deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie, who lives in Cromwell, said there was no evidence that he was aware of to support that claim about the council favouring his town, in any shape or form.“If anything it’s our geographical location and that we’re part of the triangle with Wānaka and Queenstown, with main transport routes and being able to connect to the Upper Clutha and Wakatipu.“Developers have made things happen because there has been that land available.”The Alexandra Clyde & Districts Business Group was started by the late Alan McLellan - father of Rory McLellan, who is about to open The Finery in downtown Alexandra.Rory was also involved with the Riverside Park development south of the new entertainment centre, which will link the township to the riverside by establishing a community and heritage greenspace and precinct.The population of Alexandra in 2023 was 6120 and Clyde 1260. Cromwell’s population is 7160, with an extra 840 in Pisa Moorings and a further 610 in Bannockburn.

For more than 20 years, the Alexandra Clyde & Districts Business Group has been a staunch advocate for the towns south of the dam to be able to thrive again.The group was formed because in the early 1990s everything changed, and the population explosion moved north to Cromwell, Wānaka and Queenstown once the Clyde dam was under way.In the early 1980s, Alexandra once had the only supermarket in the entire Central Otago/Queenstown Lakes area, and everyone used to flock there to do their shopping.“Alexandra was the fastest growing town in the South Island,” group member and local businessman Russell Ibbotson said.He said before the new Countdown supermarket opened in Alexandra, many families used to, and some still do, drive to Queenstown regularly to shop at the bigger food retail stores for bulk deals.But, the group was concerned that without strong population growth and new developments, the towns would lose future ground and government departments would move north.In 2011 the business group took a petition signed by 1300 people to the Central Otago District Council asking for a more positive approach to economic development.There have been several full page adverts taken out in local newspapers by the group outlining some of their concerns - the most recent one before Christmas.They believe developments have continued to favour Cromwell over Alexandra, and that some retailers were struggling to meet operational costs because they just don’t get customers.“If the towns (Alexandra and Clyde) do not have a strong and vibrant retail sector, businesses will be forced to close, which will then result in a loss of services available to the community.”Deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie, who lives in Cromwell, said there was no evidence that he was aware of to support that claim about the council favouring his town, in any shape or form.“If anything it’s our geographical location and that we’re part of the triangle with Wānaka and Queenstown, with main transport routes and being able to connect to the Upper Clutha and Wakatipu.“Developers have made things happen because there has been that land available.”The Alexandra Clyde & Districts Business Group was started by the late Alan McLellan - father of Rory McLellan, who is about to open The Finery in downtown Alexandra.Rory was also involved with the Riverside Park development south of the new entertainment centre, which will link the township to the riverside by establishing a community and heritage greenspace and precinct.The population of Alexandra in 2023 was 6120 and Clyde 1260. Cromwell’s population is 7160, with an extra 840 in Pisa Moorings and a further 610 in Bannockburn.

Poor water quality in the Manuherekia River at Alexandra’s Shaky Bridge over the past fortnight has prompted further investigations of the contamination.Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA) tests sites around the country weekly from December 1 to March 15, and the popular Alexandra swimming spot has been in the spotlight.Elevated levels of E.Coli has meant the river was currently unsuitable for swimming and the Otago Regional Council (ORC) has done some further testing as a result.Scientist – Water Quality Helen Trotter said a further sample of the river was taken at the end of last week, following a high result on Monday, January 8. Results of that second test will be known today so make sure to check the results on the Central App.  The ORC has also requested microbial source tracking analysis, which aims to identify specific sources of the E. coli in the sample; such as ruminant, human or avian.However, results of microbial source tracking analysis take some time and Helen said they didn’t have a delivery date for those.The Central App was now on the email notification list for the updates and will let readers know as soon as they become available.The highest E.Coli rating per 100ml value since monitoring began five years ago has been recorded as 2420, with levels over 540 considered high.From the eights samples this summer, 50% of the time the river was suitable for swimming, 25% of the time caution was advised and 25% it was unsuitable.Potentially toxic algae can also rapidly bloom to harmful levels, and not all freshwater sites were monitored for it.LAWA also checks Lake Dunstan at Alpha St in Cromwell, the Clyde Rowing Club, the Clutha River/Mata-Au at Dunorling St, Pinders Pond and the Taieri River at Waipiata.   There have been no other issues at other sites. 

A large freshwater eel found on a Hillview Road property stuck against a rabbit-proofed fence has been rehomed in the Manuherekia River.Irrigation Scheme manager Susan Heal said the eel would’ve been surviving on ducklings, but it wouldn’t have much longer if they didn’t move it back into deep water.Clearing and unblocking water races and relocating freshwater species are just some of the jobs Susan does on a daily basis.The eel was found at Fraser Jonker’s property and had been living in their dam.The eel has been relocated to the Manuherekia River at Galloway. PHOTO: The Central AppHowever, Fraser rehomed the eel this week with the help of Susan and contractor Kev Krsinic, who managed to get it into a wheelie bin, which they filled with water to keep it alive, and then drove out to Galloway where it was released into the river.“I hope people didn’t think we were dumping our rubbish,” Susan joked.Eels can travel long distances and will follow a watercourse much like trout. Taking the eel away from where it was originally living in Hillview Rd are (from left) Manuherekia Irrigation Scheme manager Susan Heal, land owner Fraser Jonker and contractor Kev Krsinic. PHOTO: The Central AppWhen the dam overflowed onto surrounding property, the eel must have moved with it.  New Zealand has two main types of freshwater eel species - the longfin - classified as ‘at risk - declining,’ and the shortfin which is ‘not threatened.’ Longfin eels, as well as being rare, are less able to cope with changes to their environment than their shorter-finned relative. They are heavily affected by human activities, such as pollution, the building of dams, loss of vegetation near their habitat, and overfishing.They can grow up to 2m in length and live for up to 60 years. Those involved in its relocation are not 100 per cent sure which type of eel it is, but suspect it is a longfin.

Grass fires are continuing to keep crews busy in parts of Central this week.Blackstone and Omakau volunteer fire crews were called to a grass fire at Moa Creek at about 1.30pm today.Dunstan and Alexandra crews were called to another similar incident at Galloway about 10 minutes later.The Moa Creek fire was about 50sqm, while the Galloway fire was about 10sqm.A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said while both fires were considered “small”, it was a reminder for people to remain vigilant as hot and dry conditions continue to heighten the risk of fire.Central Otago was placed in a prohibited fire season on December 18, along with Naseby, Upper Waitaki Lakes, Glendhu Bluffs and Lake Ōhau zones.Fireworks are also banned in those areas under Section 52 of the Fire and Emergency Act, until further notice.A prohibited fire season means a total ban on open-air fires and all previously granted fire permits are suspended.Anyone who sees smoke should call 111.Hot and dry conditions are set to continue into the weekend with MetService forecasting 30C in Alexandra tomorrow, while Sunday is expected to be slightly cooler with 24C.MetService advises anyone out and about in the sunshine over the next few days to remain sun smart - slip, slop, slap, and wrap, and make sure you have sufficient fluids to keep you hydrated.Heat alerts will be issued for locations that are reaching their highest temperatures to keep people up to date with their local forecast to make sure they are the most prepared they can be for the day.However, MetService meteorologist Clare O'Connor said cooler air was on the horizon.“A fresh southwesterly change early Monday will be in sharp contrast to the hot weather of the weekend – maximum temperatures are forecast to barely reach the high teens early next week, in some places this is even lower than recent overnight temperatures, which might be appreciated by anyone who has been struggling to sleep this last week."For more weather information click on The Central App's weather button.Read more: Central now in prohibited fire seasonRead more: Fire crews kept busy in Central

Plenty of workers and an abundance of stonefruit in Central Otago this season is putting smiles back on the faces of many local orchardists.Fifth generation grower Gary Bennetts, of New Zealand Orchard Direct in Roxburgh, said having staff has made a huge difference this season.Over the past three summers he had struggled to get all of his fruit off the trees, and had to leave behind about 30 to 40 tonne of cherries last year because he had nobody to pick them.This season they’ve had more enquiries for work than they could handle, “which was just fantastic really. There is hope now, where there was no hope before.”Many orchardists spoken to, including Gary, said they had just been trying to keep their orchards financially viable the past few years.In Earnscleugh there had been reports of orchardists pulling out their trees in 2023, particularly apricots, but this season the stonefruit has been plentiful. Cherries have had a mixed season and many growers were looking to finish slightly earlier than usual.Gary said weather has been changeable in the Teviot with a mixture of both very hot and very cool days, and some of the earlier varieties of cherries were affected before Christmas because of the rain.Some of the huge and juicy peaches grown locally at Webbs Fruit in Cromwell. PHOTO: SuppliedFruit pickers spoken to in the Roxburgh area from another orchard said they were being paid in early January to pull 70 per cent of the cherries off the trees from one block because they had all split.They were looking forward to some better days, where everyone could start making some good money.Jeremy Hiscock, from Panmure Orchards in Earnscleugh, said the weather had been perfect for growing the fruit and finishing the fruit, “and being able to keep up with the pick.”“If this was an El Nino summer then I’m having one every year.”There was a great vibe around the staff camp this year, as numbers of employees were back to capacity, and people seemed to be enjoying their work, Jeremy said.“It’s nice to have walk-ins too,” although, admittedly, it was hard to turn others away when they were busy and full.Gary was also involved in the early trials of the new nzsummer apricot varieties - having planted his trees eight to 10 years ago, and said the crop was very heavy and he was optimistic for the new exports this season.Between 44,000 to 45,000 trees spanning 44 to 46 hectares nationwide have been planted in the new apricot varieties, which had involved 20 growers. The majority of these are in Central Otago, from Ardgour Valley near Tarras right through to Ettrick.

Strong winds have battered parts of Central today, but no weather watches are in place for the district.MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor said while there were some strong gusts they were not expected to exceed the threshold that triggers a strong wind watch or warning.“Although you have some stronger gusts, [including] 75km/h in Wanaka and 55km/h in Alexandra, these are still under the threshold.”A wind warning would require widespread severe gales with a minimum mean speed of 90km/h or frequent gusts exceeding 110km/h. Widespread means an area of 1000 square kilometres or more.Clare said the good news was the winds should ease off this evening, making way for another hot and calmer day tomorrow.Temperatures were also high across parts of the South Island today, with Roxburgh reaching a high of 28.2C. Alexandra was slightly cooler with 26.6C, while Wanaka reached 24.4C.It has been indicated that northwesterly winds will pick up on Saturday. IMAGE: SuppliedHowever, it was coastal towns that basked in some of the highest temperatures of the day with Timaru sitting on 32.5C, while Oamaru reached 30.7C and Dunedin 29.2C.Although people could look forward to a calmer day tomorrow across Central, lower parts of the South Island could get hit with northwesterly winds on Saturday, according to the MetService’s severe weather outlook. For more weather information click on The Central App’s weather button.

The Manuherekia River at Alexandra is once again 'unsuitable' to swim in following test results on January 8, which showed elevated levels of E.coli for the second time in two weeks.Testing of the river is done every Monday, but results are not received until Wednesday.The popular Shaky Bridge swimming spot has had a mixed summer with regular water testing of the Manuherekia River showing elevated levels of E.coli on a number of occasions.On December 27 LAWA (Land Air Water Aotearoa) reported unhealthy levels of bacteria making it unsuitable for swimming, but testing on January 3 showed it was back to good health, however a week later the quality of water had declined again.Central Otago experienced heavy rainfall on December 24 and 25 and LIWA advised on its website to not swim in rivers two to three days after heavy or prolonged rain - even at sites that have good water quality.LAWA tests sites around the country weekly from December 1 to March 15 and the Shaky Bridge overall has a ‘poor' long term rating.The highest E.Coli rating per 100ml value since monitoring began five years ago has been recorded as 2420, with levels over 540 considered high.From the eight samples this summer, only 50% per cent of the time it was suitable for swimming, 25 per cent of the time caution was advised and 25 per cent it was unsuitable.LAWA has tracked the source of past bacteria as both ruminant (sheep/cows) and human waste.The estimated risk of Campylobacter infection from E.coli was common after rainfall, as storm-water and rural run-off may contain human or animal effluent.Potentially toxic algae can also rapidly bloom to harmful levels, and not all freshwater sites were monitored for it, the site said.Data from the past five years shows overall the Manuherekia River has been suitable for swimming under the Shaky Bridge 74 per cent of the time, with 18 per cent caution advised and 8 per cent of the time unsuitable.LAWA also checks Lake Dunstan at Alpha St in Cromwell, the Clyde Rowing Club, the Clutha River/Mata-Au at Dunorling St, Pinders Pond and the Taieri River at Waipiata.All have received good water quality reports. Check out the section in The Central App under reports, Safe to swim? before you go swimming to be sure the spot is safe. 

An Auckland couple will appear in the Alexandra District Court next week on a series of assault charges after an incident at Paulina’s Bar and Restaurant on New Year’s Eve. Acting Sergeant Graham Perkins said the woman allegedly assaulted a female staff member several times, and when they were finally asked to leave, tried to come back in through the back door of the kitchen and try again.The incident happened just after midnight when last drinks were called, and the couple were not happy they couldn’t get any more service. Acting Sgt Perkins said the male security guard was also allegedly assaulted and the police officer on duty was threatened with having his house burnt down.The couple would be due to appear in court on January 15 on a total of five assault charges, and police thanked the locals for being supportive on the night.Paulina’s owner Shane Hilton said the staff member who was pushed was outside having a break and because she was wearing black, the couple assumed she was part of the security team.“It was disappointing that after they were asked to leave the assaults took place. It put a dampener on what was otherwise a successful night.“Everyone was really enjoying themselves and then when police were called they took it a bit further after we tried to deal with them.”Acting Sgt Perkins said there were few other incidents to report over the Christmas/New Year period other than lost property and complaints about vehicles.“Everything has been running really well. The town has been chocka and food places have been well patronised,” he said.Family harm incidents were also really low and there had been no other incidents of disorder reported.

A French national is facing four charges of careless driving causing injury after a head-on crash near Butcher’s Dam on January 3.Alexandra Police Acting Sergeant Graham Perkins said the female driver coming from Roxburgh allegedly missed the turnoff to Conroys and carried on along State Highway 8, before making a U-turn and driving back along the road on the right hand side.When she approached the corner to turn off, her vehicle hit a Toyota Hiace carrying a family from Invercargill and their eight year old, who had to be airlifted to Dunstan and Dunedin hospitals.The family were now recovering at home, but the passenger in the other vehicle driven by the female was still in intensive care with a broken femur and lower leg, along with internal injuries. Acting Sgt Perkins said the driver had been in the country for a while but had a momentary lapse of concentration where she forgot what side of the road to drive on.He said there had been many reports of particularly overseas drivers also not adhering to the speed limit, including one driver near Tarras who was clocked at 150 km/hr.“It has just been incredible the number of tourists driving at excessive speeds,” he said.Unnecessary overtaking was another common factor on the roads over the Christmas and New Year period, including the Devil’s Staircase where, fortunately, drivers were picked up on dash cams.

A group of Cromwell and Wakatipu chicks called The Birdies are participating in the Longest Day Challenge on Thursday at Millbrook Resort and the Arrowtown Golf Club.Sounds like a fun girls day out, but the reason behind the event is actually for quite a serious cause.The eight friends have all been affected in one way or another by cancer, and are raising money for the Cancer Society by doing what they love.Seventy-two holes in one day was four times the usual amount of golf a person would play, and the girls will starting at 6:30am and finishing when they finish - 36 holes at Millbrook followed by 19 holes at Arrowtown.“We expect to be finishing up about 8pm in the evening and will continue regardless of whatever the weather gods choose to throw at us on the day,” participant, Jackie Hamilton said. The Birdies were very grateful for the two clubs' donations of accessible tee-times, carts and green fees. Without the two clubs' involvement, they wouldn't have been able to achieve this. Their goal is to raise $8000 and so far they have managed almost $2500.This was the third year in a row The Birdies have gathered together, with some slightly different members each year for the Longest Day Challenge."We are also grateful for our support crew who will be cheering us on from dawn to dusk, bringing food and drinks out onto the course so that we can concentrate on the challenge at hand. The team have decided to dress in Hawaiian theme this year to represent the many bright and variable attributes and attitudes that support crew can bring to the cancer patient.” Team member Jo Neep said living with cancer was both a mental and a physical challenge.“Multiple myeloma is treatable, but not curable which means it never goes away. It festers inside growing slowly until it breaks through the drug barrier, only to be battered back by stronger more toxic chemo. “Currently there are only a handful of treatments available. Meanwhile the body see-saws between being ravaged, to looking and feeling okay. The Cancer Society understand this fight and are a good sounding board providing counselling and practical help when required.  “I am both touched and proud that my golfing buddies are continuing the effort to raise funds for the Cancer Society.  Last year I was too sick to join them. I am honoured that they want to take up this challenge again. I hope that others can find it in their hearts to support this good cause." Visit the team's The Longest Day page to provide support.