Battling the bone-chilling cold in Omarama

Elise (7, left) and Charlie (10) Mathias have fun in the snow at Omarama Station with pet calves Wonka and Pebbles. Photo / Otago Daily Times

They breed 'em tough in Omarama - even the visitors.

The Waitaki Valley township might be better known as the ''place of light'' but, this week, it has become the place of bone-chilling cold.

When the temperature plunged to -21degC on Wednesday morning, Frank Naughton described the sensation as ''like razor blades going through your fingers and toes''.

The hardy Waimate man was busy doing repair work to the stone entranceway of The Wrinkly Rams cafe yesterday afternoon, while the temperature gauge read about -7degC.

Frank Naughton repairs a stone wall outside The Wrinkly Rams cafe at Omarama. Photos by Peter McIntosh. Photo / ODT

''I'm committed,'' he said, laughing as he explained how he had to thaw the sand by the fire to be able to mix mortar.

His hands were the worst affected but he had put the time aside this week to do the work, which was required after a vehicle drove into the entranceway.

He intended to continue, despite being surrounded by snow.

''I'm so sick of people saying how pretty it is. It is quite pretty but I'd rather it wasn't here,'' he said.

Hot Tubs Omarama owners Lance and Jan Thomas arrived home this week from a holiday in Melbourne, where the 12degC temperature was positively balmy compared with what they encountered in Omarama.

Their business was closed, possibly for up to a month, as their well was frozen and they had no water.

Hot Tubs Omarama owner Lance Thomas walks across a frozen pond at the complex which has been closed due to the freezing conditions. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Even though the pipes were all lagged, they still froze and the couple had bought some cheap fan heaters in an effort to speed up the thaw.

It was the first time Mr Thomas had experienced such cold weather in the 10 years he had been in the township.

''This is the worst by far,'' he said, as he walked gingerly across a frozen pond which formed a centrepiece of the complex.

Small businesses in Omarama and nearby Twizel were struggling, as a result of the freeze, and he questioned whether any government assistance would be available.

They would not have any income for potentially at least a month.

Their full-time staff would be getting sick pay and holiday pay, but their part-time staff would be getting nothing.

But he was also fairly philosophical, as he pointed to the blue sky and clean, clear air.

''That's the thing about the high country. You get day after day like this. You don't mind the cold as long as you get a day like this. It's amazing,'' he said.

Late yesterday, Mr Thomas was preparing for what he reckoned would be ''the meanest frost'' yet this week.

Terry Walsh, who runs the Mobil garage, said there were major problems with diesel waxing in vehicles in the freezing conditions, which was particularly frustrating for farmers as they tried to feed stock.

Burst pipes were an issue throughout the township including at the Olive Grove Cafe, which Mr Walsh owned.

Wednesday's record temperature was difficult to explain - ''it's just something I've never experienced'' before, and he described it as ''just incredible''.

It was warmer in the cafe chiller than outside the building.

''It's something we don't want to experience too often,'' he said.

GlenCraig's Clothing shop assistant Julie Dyson enjoyed a shower at the local fire station yesterday morning, after being without hot water for three days.

''We're tough, you see, so we don't actually moan too much about it. It's not anything unbearable and we're bred tough,'' she said.

Mrs Dyson did confess to wearing slippers to work yesterday.

''Isn't that terrible?'' she said, laughing.

At Omarama Station, Kirsten Mathias, whose husband John is stock manager on the nearly 12,000ha property, summed it up when she said it was ''just tough going'' in the snow, with animals needing to be fed.

But it was winter time, she noted.