A few hardy volunteers showed up to take part in the Wild Rubbish event on Wednesday, which has become a fixture on the Arrowtown Autumn Festival programme.
Led by local adventure company Nomad Safaris, the idea is to spend a few hours clearing litter from around the Arrow River. The event has been run for six years and attracted varying numbers of volunteers. This year, six people reported for duty along with Nomad Safaris staff on the perfectly sunny Wednesday afternoon.
"Our idea ... is to give something back to the community ... Keeping this beautiful area clean and pristine is in everyone's interest, and if we can get even a few people to join us in making an effort, we are happy," Nomad Safaris operations manager Tony Curtis said.
In return for their effort and time the volunteers got a spectacular free four-wheel-drive journey up to the chosen sites for the cleanup project. They went up river from Arrowtown for about 15 minutes' ride, which turned out to be an insanely bumpy, but stunningly beautiful trip, crossing 11 fords across the Arrow River.
"It is a nice way to spend a fine afternoon, while doing something useful for the community," volunteer Sally Patchett, of Queenstown, said.
The volunteers agreed it was a shame anyone would leave rubbish at such a beautiful location.
Nomad Safaris guide Malcolm Anngow said staff would often pick up bottles and other rubbish when they were in the area, and at times he had even had to bury human waste left in plain sight.
Mr Curtis said there was less rubbish left along the river this year, compared with previous years. Last year, the event resulted in six big black plastic bags of rubbish collected.
The loot this year consisted of bottles, cans, plastic scraps, the odd piece of clothing and even a shoe. When the volunteers spotted a nice little blue sports car, which had somehow made it across the first few fords, parked along the four-wheel track, they asked if they could collect the car as well.
"When we take customers out to this area, we want to show them some of that 'clean, green' image New Zealand is known for. It is unbelievable that anyone would litter a place like this, but when it does happen, we are glad to drum up a bit of support for cleaning up," Mr Curtis said.
