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Milk, warm food and hot drinks were flying off the Naseby General Store’s shelves after a massive dump of snow closed roads in and out of the village.
There was a slew of road closures all around Central Otago yesterday after large amounts of snow settled across the region.
Naseby was blanketed in snow.
Naseby General Store owner Nathan Brown said there looked to be at least be 30cm, maybe more.
He said once the plough went through the streets, it was quite a spectacular sight to see the snow piled along the footpath.
‘‘It’s a lot of snow, that’s all — I don’t think we’ve seen this much snow for 10 years or so.’’
Mr Brown said it was ‘‘pretty special’’ and the snow also meant the store was having a rare busy day for July.
‘‘The snow always makes it busy in an otherwise quiet time of year.’’
They sold out of milk, a lot of hot food was in demand and coffees and pastries had been ‘‘flying out the door’’.
As the roads in and out of Naseby had closed, people stocked up and hunkered down, he said.
Snow also settled around Omakau, Poolburn, the Ida Valley, St Bathans and Ranfurly, and there were reports of falls around the Bannockburn and Lindis areas.
State Highway 85 (Palmerston to Kyeburn) and SH87 (Kyeburn to Middlemarch) were closed because of snow, and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi had cautions in place for most inland highways for most of the day.
Further north, SH8 was closed from Twizel to Fairlie.
The St Bathans and Ida Valley areas were restricted to 4WD access only.
The Central Otago District Council said crews were clearing snow and gritting the roads yesterday, and urged residents to stay off the roads.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council advised chains had to be carried by motorists travelling on the Crown Range road.
PowerNet said its crews had managed to restore electricity to the remaining 50 customers who lost power at the weekend.