The Crown Range and Cardrona Valley Rds between Wanaka and Queenstown can be a testing place for drivers unfamiliar with ice and snow. This week, Otago Daily Times Wanaka bureau chief Mark Price set out with Constable Greg Nolet, of Wanaka, to find five driving hazards along the high-altitude road. It did not take long before he was back, with a list of about 35.
To the 21-year-old English tourist, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
Although his Nissan Sylphy rental had slid off the road into a ditch early on Thursday, it was still mobile.
Perhaps if he drove slowly with his hazard lights on, he might make it to Wanaka before his wobbly rear wheel flew off, or he was picked up by police.
But no such luck.
He was still way short of Wanaka when spotted by Constable Greg Nolet.
''Not the action of a normal, prudent person,'' Const Nolet remarked, handing the young man a $600 infringement notice for driving in a manner liable to cause damage, injury or annoyance, and arranging a ride for him into Wanaka.
Const Nolet has a motoring misdemeanour story for every corner of the 35km ''mountain goat track'' between Wanaka and the top of the Crown Range.
He begins with slow drivers.
Slow drivers
Heading out of Wanaka towards Queenstown, motorists pass a 30kmh sign, then a 70kmh sign and finally a sign that is round and white and has a black diagonal line through it.
New Zealanders will know this is the start of a limited speed zone where the maximum speed is 100kmh.
But Const Nolet points out overseas drivers often do not know this and remain in 70kmh mode.
Tourists also often drive slowly because they are cautious about being on a new road or about driving in winter conditions.
And, they may be sightseeing or even taking photos as they drive.
They frustrate local drivers and that can lead to dangerous overtaking.
Const Nolet believes some of the issues could be overcome by adding signs to indicate the speed limit is 100kmh, and by having more signs to remind slow drivers to pull over.
He says it is not unknown for tourists to stop on the road to take a photograph because they believe they are not allowed to drive on the verge.
The Larches
Locals will know the larches as two S-bends 6km-7km south of Wanaka.
And they will know that in certain conditions, it is a spot where black ice forms.
The problem is the larches, and other trees, above the road block the sun and allow cold air to pool on the road.
That, combined with a damp road surface, is a perfect environment for black ice to form.
De-icing chemicals are applied to this part of the road at times but Const Nolet believes the situation could be improved if trees were removed, as they have been at other places on the road where black ice was a danger.
In addition, he recalled two crashes caused by trees falling on to the road, and there are many other places where rocks falling off hillsides are also a potential hazard.
Icebox
There is no sign stating a motorist is at the ''icebox'', about 30km from Wanaka, but there are signs pointing out they are entering an accident black spot.
Const Nolet says there can be a 10degC difference in the temperature between Wanaka and parts of the Cardrona Valley that seldom get the sun. The icebox is one such place.
''[It is] affected by snow, which melts during the day, covers the road with water which freezes.''
He says it is a place where shift workers commuting between work and home can come unstuck, ''surprised'' to encounter ice in the early hours of the morning before grit trucks have been out.
Other slippery places
Const Nolet considers the steep first kilometre of the Wanaka side of the Crown Range summit is where most of the crashes occur that can be put down to slippery surfaces.
In his experience, ice accounts for two-thirds of these crashes and grit for the other third.
He recalls a four-wheel-drive vehicle getting a front wheel into the grit along the verge, sliding across the road into a cliff, overturning and continuing to slide on its side down the hill towards Wanaka.
He says other less obvious slippery surfaces are the concrete bridges down the valley.
''You've not only got the frost on top and the moisture, and the snow and the compacted ice and the grit; you've also got the cold air that travels underneath that structure which also freezes the bottom, so you have almost an ice sandwich.''
Crossing the centre line
There is a spot towards the top of the Crown Range which gives a police officer, sitting in a patrol car with the engine running, a perfect view of cars crossing the centre line.
There were plenty of examples in the few minutes we watched this week.
Const Nolet says many tourists come from countries where crossing a white line - or ''taking the race line'' - on a secondary road is not illegal.
But, even though it is tourists who have a reputation for being the biggest offenders in this area, Const Nolet has found it is in fact New Zealanders ''in a hurry'' who are more often to blame.
However, he recalled stopping an Australian tourist who had been reported driving on the wrong side of the road (near Makarora).
Asked to explain, she said she had a great fear of water, and preferred to drive on the side of the road furthest from Lake Wanaka.
