Man charged after naked Q'town swim

TSS Earnslaw, from which a Queenstown man took a naked dive yesterday morning. Photo / NZ Herald

A Queenstown man who allegedly stripped naked and jumped off the historic steamship TSS Earnslaw into Lake Wakatipu yesterday morning will appear in the Queenstown District Court next week.

Sergeant Keith Newell, of Queenstown, said the 32-year-old Australian national was arrested at 1.30am, after having drunkenly disrobed and climbed on board the vessel.

"He ran around on the top decks of the Earnslaw and then climbed onto the roof and jumped into the lake."

Sgt Newell said the man swam to shore and walked naked around Steamer Wharf and through Earnslaw Park, observed by patrons of the Lasseters Wharf Casino and "a whole lot of people in a bar, who called police".

"He thought it was funny, but the patrons didn't," Sgt Newell said.

The man was charged with obscene exposure and unlawfully being on a ship. He will appear in in court on March 12.

At 2am, a 20-year-old Brazilian national received a dislocated shoulder, cuts and bruises after he skateboarded down Queenstown's Ballarat St and crashed into a moving car at the bottom.

Sgt Newell said the man had picked up so much speed on the street - one of the resort's steepest - he could not stop or turn the corner when he reached the Stanley St-Ballarat St roundabout. He reportedly hit the bonnet of a car, with his momentum carrying him over the car's bonnet on to the ground.

"There are a few skateboarders in town who take risks at night - they don't have lights - and in this case, he wasn't there to be seen," Sgt Newell said.

"The motorist wouldn't have expected to see a skateboarder turn up on the front of his car at that time of the morning."

He did not know if charges would be pressed, but said inquiries were ongoing.