An early shower of rain yesterday that almost instantly turned to black ice caused several minor accidents in the Upper Clutha.
A large Scott Haulage furniture removal truck attempting to overtake a smaller Mitre 10 truck on a shady hill in Plantation Rd, Wanaka, slid sideways and blocked the road.
In nearby Hedditch St, Czech Republic surveyor Peter Michovsky (above), on his way to work before grit trucks arrived, slid into a ditch, badly damaging his Nissan van.
The passenger in a car that overturned in Studholme Rd was taken to the Wanaka Lakes Health Centre with a sore neck.
The car's driver was uninjured. Higher parts of the Crown Range Rd were gritted early, but the stretch from Wanaka to Cardrona was icy till mid morning, resulting in two cars running off the road.
Chains were mandatory on the upper part of the road to the Cardrona Alpine Resort and another two cars were understood to have had problems there.
And while black ice on the road was impossible to see, ice was clearly evident in the stream at the foot of the skifield road.
