Mark Price

On January 19, Wanaka triathlete Simone Maier will head down to the lake for a 3.8km swim; will follow that up with a 180km bike ride and then run 42.2km.

The Westland District Council's property company says it has a ''memorandum of understanding'' with overseas financiers to build a $220 million road between Haast and Hollyford. Mark Price went to Jackson Bay to find out whether such a road would be welcomed.

Snow stopped tourists in their tracks on the Crown Range between Wanaka and Queenstown yesterday morning.

The Croydon Aircraft Company, in Mandeville, near Gore, has been asked by a ''conservation Rambo'' in Zimbabwe to build two microlight aircraft for use detecting rhinoceros poachers.

Rainy weather did not seem to bother Shaya Laughlin (17), of Cairns, and Jeremy Basset (19), of Geneva, as they headed for the Crown Range on their way to Queenstown on New Year's Day. The pair left Cape Reinga on November 28 and plan to be in Bluff by January 10, raising money as they go for the Sir Peter Blake Trust in New Zealand and Save Our Sea Turtles in Cairns.

''Panic and confusion'' was how a bus driver who arrived in Wanaka from the West Coast yesterday afternoon summed up the mood of tourists affected by the washed out Wanganui River bridge at Harihari, south of Hokitika.

Tourists on the way to the West Coast from the Southern Lakes District were only gradually learning yesterday they would be unable to proceed past the washed-out Wanganui River bridge at Harihari, south of Hokitika.

In the lead-up to yesterday's 50th anniversary Wanaka Rodeo, organisers had been concerned there might be a dust problem.

Ronnie Moffat, of Wanaka, has not become a multi-millionaire school caretaker.

The push to educate camper-van users about the rules of freedom camping in New Zealand has been applauded by Wanaka Top 10 Holiday Park lessee Patrick Perkins.

Having been underpaid $110 each week since the introduction of the Novopay payroll system, Mt Aspiring College caretaker Ronnie Moffat has now learnt he's in line for a $102,772,800 pay packet.

If you remember being drunk and threatening in the Invercargill pie cart 37 and a-half years ago and running away when arrested by a young policeman, it is probably safe enough now to own up.

At the start of the weekend Mt Cook Alpine Salmon, in the Mackenzie Country, had a problem: 10,000 too many young salmon.

Wanaka's former dog ranger and parking and litter officer Daryl Taylor says he has received a payout after being sacked by Lakes Environmental in September.

"Interesting'' was all Queenstown Mayor Vanessa van Uden had to say after a meeting in Queenstown yesterday with a deputation from Westland District Property Ltd promoting a 160km toll road between Haast and Hollyford.

A ''hypothetical'' plan that would reduce the risk of Wanaka's town centre flooding and also generate enough electricity for a town the size of Lake Hawea is being floated by a University of Waikato PhD student.

Wanaka earthmoving contractor Robert Duncan is a little vague on how a 1934 Duesenberg Model J car once owned by Hollywood movie star Carole Lombard came to be in Wanaka.

The 17-year-old female driver of a Toyota Surf had a "very lucky'' escape from serious injury yesterday.