‘‘It's like riding a ray of sunshine,'' is how Wanaka man Will Miller describes the experience of driving the resort's new tuk-tuk.
‘‘People just smile - they look and smile and point.''
Together with his wife Rosa Stackhouse-Miller and friend Simon Anderson, Mr Miller has started an unconventional new transport service called Wana tuki-tuk, an idea months in the making.
‘‘We were sitting around last year talking about doing crazy stuff and tuk-tuks came up. On the internet we found one in Invercargill - a guy had imported one about five years ago [from Thailand].''
The tuk-tuk, powered by a 550cc two-cylinder Isuzu engine, is running a pick-up and drop-off service within a roughly 3km radius of Wanaka's town centre.
Mr Miller said the tuk-tuk was greeted by "lots of smiling people" during the Queen's Birthday weekend launch, which had been a big success.
"It was just a lot of fun and there were quite a few people that were enthusiastic about having the service in town.''
