"Car" shaped UFO allegedly takes off from road near Rutherglen West Coast South Island of New Zealand 6 August 2013

It will be interesting to see how this story pans out:

from a Sun Herald story from 9 July 1967 

covering Prof. James McDonald's visit to Australia

from Google Earth -the Rutherglen Shantytown intersection

A  West  Coast  man  is  'freaked  out'  afer  coming  face  to  face  last  night  with  what  he  claims  was  a  UFO,  parked  on  the road  outside  the  entrance  to  Shantytown.Mathew  Robert,  a  mechanic  from  Rutherglen,  insists  he  is  not  alone  and  that  three  other  cars  were  also  confronted by  the  night-time  visitor  on  Rutherglen  Road,  south  of  Greymouth,  about  8.45pm.When  the  car-­‐shaped  object  suddenly  lifted  into  the  sky  in  a  blinding  light,  he  and  the  other  drivers  left   in  such  a hurry  they  left   skid  marks  on  the  road."I  was  changing  a  CD  as  I  was  driving  and  when  I  looked  up  I  saw  what  looked  like  a  car  without  its    lights  on, stopped  in  the  middle  of  the  road  outside  Shantytown.  I  slammed  on  my  brakes  and  my  eyes  were  still  trying  to focus,  when  suddenly  the  thing  just  lit  up  and  shot  into  the  sky,"  Mr  Robert  said."When  I  came  to  my  senses  I  noticed  that  there  were  three  other  cars  that  had  stopped  on  the  other  side  of  the road  as  well.  It's  weird  that  no  one  else  has  come  forward  because  those  people  obviously  would  have  seen  the same  thing  I  did."He  claims  that  immediately  following  the  incident  he  lost  all  cellphone  reception,  his  vision  was  blurry  and  his  eyes watery  for  about  an  hour  afterwards.Mr  Robert  was  driving  into  Greymouth  at  the   time  to  pick  up  his  partner,  Charlotte  Rose,  from  work  at  the  hospital. He  arrived  there  bug-­‐eyed  and  agitated.Ms  Rose  said  he  was  visibly  shaken."I  just  looked  at  him  and  I  could  tell  something  bad  had  happened,  he  was  freaked  out  and  his  eyes  were  watery," Ms  Rose  said.Coincidentally,  Mr  Robert  had  been  looking  at  the  night  sky  in  real-­time  via  his  smartphone  on  an  app  called  the Night  Sky  a  few  minutes  previous."I  was  sitting  at  home  before  I  went  to  town  and  I  was  looking  at  satellites  and  other  things  on  my  phone.  Suddenly, what  looked  like  a  satellite  started  going  crazy  and  moving  all  over  the  sky  and  I  was  trying  to  follow  it  with  my phone."Mr  Robert  said  he  hoped  the  witnesses  from  the  other  cars  would  also  come  forward  and  confirm  what  he  saw.  One vehicle  was  a  Mitsubishi  Chariot  and  another  a  Honda  Accord.  He  did  not  have  a  description  of  the  third  vehicle."I  know  people  are  going  to  think  that  it's  crazy,  but  I  know  what  I  saw." 

The element of the "what looked like a satellite ... going crazy ..." while Mathew Robert was using his Night Sky smart phone app seems a bit odd, and possibly unrelated.  Maybe a decaying satellite or launch vehicle by coincidence.  While it might be a smart phone app I doubt if the makers have programmed in UFO tracking?

The "UFO" encounter itself seems to have many similarities with other road vehicle encounters.  Lets see if the incident stands up to a serious investigation.  The cell phone reception problem, blinding light take-off, blurred vision and watery eyes have all been encountered in UFO close encounter events in the past.

The good folk of Shantytown haven't taken long to draw attention to potential tourist possibilities, unfortunately complete with tin foil hats:

West Coast gets UFO fever
By Nikki-Leigh Wilson of the Greymouth Star  Thursday August 8, 2013:
UFOs are the talk of the West Coast after reports of one man's 'close encounter' at Rutherglen on Tuesday night.
Although no other witnesses have come forward about the sighting; in which Matthew Robert Haisty claims to have come across a UFO parked on the road right outside Shantytown before it took off in a flash of blinding light; David Skelton said today he witnessed strange lights moving about in nearby Taylorville about the same time.
He said he saw strange lights from his window and initially thought a plane was going down. The lights were travelling west, too slow for a meteor but too fast to be a helicopter or plane. They were also too low to be from a shooting star.
The Shantytown UFO incident has created much discussion on-line, with people taking to social networks to voice a range of theories and messages of both support and scepticism.
Many claimed that hallucinogenic drugs or alcohol must be responsible, while others maintained that some things simply could not be explained.
Kelsey Prendergast said on Facebook: "I believe it's true. I've had sightings and I was blown away."
Elizabeth Tones was also supportive: "UFO is an unidentified flying object, doesn't mean green men in spaceships. Sad that people have such nasty things to say about others who see such objects."
Meanwhile, the news has gone global online and has excited alien watchers and UFO websites.
AlteredDimensions.net said: "Greymouth has been a hot spot for UFO activity for at least a decade, with reports from citizens throughout the area describing orange, red and green lights moving through the sky, green spheres travelling along the local hills and metallic discs flying in the area."