Commuters yesterday morning were caught out by black ice in the Wakatipu, a result of weekend rain and a frost on Sunday night.
Constable Dave Felstead, of Queenstown, said police, ambulance and the Arrowtown Volunteer Fire Brigade were called to two separate car crashes just before 7am on State Highway 6 at the Victoria Bridge, between Gibbston valley and the Kawarau Gorge. No injuries were reported.
"They came off the road about 6.10am and while they were standing waiting for us they saw about six or seven cars sliding," Const Felstead said.
"It was always going to happen with all of this rain that we've been having icing up.
"It's been quite slippery out there, the whole way through to Cromwell on State Highway 6. There have been a couple of crashes and a lot of near misses."
Const Felstead said a Queenstown police officer on his way to work yesterday morning also slid "six to seven times" while heading to the station from Arrowtown.
"We had a bit of excitement going out there and [so did] the fire truck behind us."
