Ohai Views

27/07/2026

Ohai heroes! 🤩🤩🤩 So grateful for this dedicated, generous, and talented crew! Ohai Volunteer Fire Brigade

Combined Training-Ohai & Nightcaps Volunteer Fire Brigades 🚒

A great night of training alongside the Nightcaps Volunteer Fire Brigade, working through a realistic scenario involving a tractor vs 4 wheeler incident 🚜💥

Living in a rural community, incidents like this are something we could genuinely be called to, so it’s important we keep challenging ourselves with realistic, hands-on training. It was a fantastic opportunity to work together, sharpen our skills, and practise communicating and operating as one team.

Emergencies don’t wait for daylight or fine weather. They happen in the dark, in the rain, and when conditions are far from ideal. That’s why we train in the dark, we train in the rain, and we train together, so we’re ready when our community needs us most.

A big thank you to the Nightcaps crew & everyone involved in another valuable night of learning and teamwork. 👨‍🚒🚜

16/07/2026

The National Emergency Management Agency has downgraded its tsunami warning to an advisory following an earthquake near Te Anau.

16/07/2026

WARNING HAS BEEN DOWNGRADED, SEE NEW POST ABOVE

‼️IMMEDIATE EVACUATION REQUIRED‼️ - This is a Tsunami Warning for coastal areas following the magnitude 6.3 earthquake near 40 km north of Te Anau.

AREAS UNDER THREAT: Land inundation is likely in the following areas. People near the coast in the following areas must MOVE IMMEDIATELY to the nearest high ground, out of tsunami evacuation zones, or as far inland as possible:

‼️The West Coast of the South Island from MILFORD SOUND to PUYSEGUR POINT.‼️

Listen to local Civil Defence authorities and follow any instructions regarding evacuation of your area. If you are told to evacuate do not stay at home.

These areas are indicated in the attached map. The earthquake may not have been felt in some of these areas, but evacuation should be immediate as a damaging tsunami is possible.

Do not return until an official all-clear message is given by Civil Defence.

Walk, run or cycle if at all possible to reduce the chances of getting stuck in traffic congestion.

The first wave may not be the largest. Tsunami activity will continue for several hours and the threat is real until this warning is cancelled.

PEOPLE IN ALL OTHER AREAS who felt a LONG or STRONG earthquake that made it hard to stand up, or lasted longer than a minute, should MOVE IMMEDIATELY to the nearest high ground, out of tsunami evacuation zones, or as far inland as possible. DO NOT STAY AT HOME.

The National Emergency Management Agency and GNS Science will continue to assess the threat and provide an update within an hour.

An Emergency Mobile Alert will be issued to the areas under land threat. People who are near the coast and felt the earthquake LONG OR STRONG, or are near the coast in the AREAS UNDER LAND THREAT listed above, should MOVE NOW. DO NOT WAIT.

People in all New Zealand coastal areas should:
1. Listen to the radio and/or TV for updates, and NZCivilDefence Twitter
2. Listen to local Civil Defence authorities
3. Stay out of the water (sea, rivers and estuaries, this includes boats)
4. Stay off beaches and shore areas
5. Do not go sightseeing
6. Share this information with family, neighbours and friends
Queenstown Lakes District Council Otago Rural Support Trust Central Otago District Council Otago Rural Support Trust

16/07/2026

How was it for you? Is everyone ok?

Where did you feel the earthquake?

13/07/2026

A couple of days ago, I was horrified when I came across a fb post from a 'social commentator' from another region who'd been driving through our Ohai, and referred to it as ...

"a broken arsed, run down jumble of dereliction .... A bleak awful place"

Seriously! Who does that?

Also... It made me wonder about how different Ohai might feel now, if SOE Solid Energy hadn't broken their promise to turn the old mine land into a recreational area for our community.

What a boon that would have been for Ohai!

A network of dog friendly bike tracks, walking tracks, lakes, fishing & BBQ facilities, that travellers from all around could enjoy together beneath the majestic Takitimu mountains.

What a incredible lift that would have been for Ohai and the wider Southland Community.

What could have been?

13/07/2026

Kia ora friends,

It's been a minute! Hope you're keeping toasty and warm. Thank you for the recent generous donations for our cause. We are grateful 🤩

11/06/2026

Free Nurses Clinic & Affordable Dental Care

Our friendly Nurses Clinic is free and open for walk-ins. We are also offering a Dental Service for just $10 per visit.

To access the Dental Service, bookings are essential. No booking is needed for the Nurses Clinic – simply come along on the day.

Everyone is welcome! See the details below

22/03/2026

Public Notice.

Nightshooting operations for pest control will be commencing tomorrow night, Monday 23/03/26, through until the early hours of the following morning on the Ohai coal mine site and surrounding forestry/farmland.

Any queries, please feel free to contact me.

rob. Agent for,
Robert Wilson (Director)
Wild Animal Management Ltd
Ph: 0274918750

10/03/2026

Ohai Views are grateful for the interest of the Parliamentary Commissioner of the Environment in our fight for a fair deal for Ohai. If not for someone in this role, who at central government will help small communities like ours?

Critics say proposal to fold department into a new ‘mega ministry’ will dilute accountability and put nature protections at risk