The tree in Lake Wānaka is known as the 'Wānaka Tree'. Photo / Getty Images
A man’s drunken circumnavigation of the Wānaka Tree in his car has cost him a conviction and nearly $1000.
Phillip Puckey, 32, had been drinking at a downtown bar when, at 12.30am on July 8, he drove his car, with two passengers, over the grass bank between Ardmore St and
the beach and into Lake Wānaka.
The police summary said he then drove for about 1.5km, parallel to the beach, with the water “approaching the height of his wheel wells”.
Reaching the well-known willow tree, he drove around it, but at one point stopped, opened his door and “fell out” into the water.
Puckey continued driving in the water for about 20 minutes before he was stopped by police on a path leading from the lake to Wānaka-Mount Aspiring Rd.
