The Wanaka App

The Upper Clutha Children’s Medical Trust (UCCMT) is holding a playhouse raffle at this week’s Wānaka A&P Show to raise funds for local children’s medical support. Since its inception in 2009, the trust has provided financial support to more than 600 families facing a range of health needs, and the upcoming raffle will be its major fundraiser for 2026.

Wānaka’s overnight medical care service is still in place - despite the contract for its delivery having expired at the end of February - and a local group says any replacement service needs to be extended and better funded. The future of the overnight service will depend on the outcome of the Queenstown Lakes Clinical Services Plan, which is still with minister of health Simeon Brown, Health New Zealand (HNZ) told the Wānaka App.

Dry conditions and a high fire risk has led to Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) declaring a prohibited fire season for its Lakes Zone, which will take effect from today (Thursday 12 March). The zone, which covers most of the Queenstown Lakes District including the Upper Clutha, is experiencing a late, long and dry "tail" to a relatively cool summer.

A person has died on the Skyline Track above Wānaka. A police spokesperson said police were notified of a death on the track just before 3pm yesterday (Tuesday March 10). “Due to the nature of the terrain, a search and rescue mission was launched to locate the deceased and transport them from the track,” the spokesperson said. The body was recovered with support from a helicopter and the incident has been referred to the Coroner.

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake struck just 40 kilometres north-west of Wānaka this morning near Mt Aspiring. The quake, which occurred at 5.49am at a depth of five kilometres, was lightly felt across the district. GeoNet describes it as 'unnoticeable'. There are no reports of damage. IMAGE: GeoNet

Wānaka Police have dealt with trespassing, a fire caused by young people lighting fireworks, drink driving, speeding, car crashes and careless driving in the past week. One man was trespassed from a property in Wānaka after pressuring people for money and a few days later a 56-year-old man was trespassed from the Albert Town Camping Ground.

A record-value slate of auction and raffle prizes have been donated for next weekend’s Hirepool Charity Classic Trilogy golf tournament. Hosted by the Wānaka Golf Club, the three-day tournament is a popular fixture on the local sporting calendar and since its inception in 2004 has raised more than $500,000 for local charities. This year’s charity of choice, Community Link, went straight to work sourcing prizes as soon as it learned it had been selected.

The Wānaka Community Patrol is calling for more volunteers to help keep the Upper Clutha community safe. The patrol has quietly been operating for more than a decade. Established in 2014 by local residents, the group works alongside local police as an extra set of “eyes and ears” in the community. Volunteers patrol Wānaka and surrounding areas on Friday and Saturday nights in a marked patrol car, usually for around four hours between 8pm and 2am.

Camp Hill Bridge will be temporarily closed to vehicles for a week at the end of March, so crews can install sections of a new wastewater pipeline on the structure as part of work to upgrade Upper Clutha’s wastewater network. Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) advised the bridge will be closed from Tuesday March 24 to Thursday April 2, between the hours of 8.30am and 6.00pm each day.

A power outage in the Upper Clutha this morning affected more than one thousand customers at its peak before power was restored. The unplanned outage occurred just after 11am, affecting 1,127 properties in Albert Town, Hāwea Flat and Wānaka South. Power was restored to all customers shortly after 12.40pm, a spokesperson for Aurora Energy told the Wānaka App. “The cause is not yet known, and our engineering team is investigating,” the spokesperson said.