The bale is gone but the mystery remains.
Lake Hawea residents are still scratching their heads over why a large, round bale of straw was left on their lakeshore.
They also cannot work out why straw from a second bale was spread in a channel dug - by a person or persons unknown - from the high-water mark to the water's edge.
Lake Hawea freedom camping warden Di Turnbull told the Otago Daily Times this week the channel of straw looked like ''a launching pad for something''.
She assumed ''farming folk'' were involved but no-one had come forward to claim the straw, and locals remained perplexed.
''No-one knew anything; which is fascinating,'' Ms Turnbull said.
''It's not local because we have got fingers in all the pies. We are none the wiser.''
Lake Hawea residents removed all the straw so it would not blow along the lakeshore.
Ms Turnbull said they picked up four woolsacks of loose straw, and to lift the intact bale on to a trailer took ''four able-bodied men''.
''It is quite funny,'' she said.
''I've never, ever seen it before.
''And I can't believe none of the locals around there saw anything, because it must have taken them ages to do that.''
