Mark Price

A "Closed" sign on Wanaka shop Gallery Thirty Three is an unusual sight in Wanaka today, as most retailers defy the law and open for business on Good Friday. 

Inspectors from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment might find themselves with an enforcement bonanza if they visit Wanaka over Easter.

Budgets permitting, the Nasa balloon team will be back in Wanaka next year.

If you are ever asked to drive an 84-year-old Model A Ford, this might help:There is an ignition key, but to start the motor press the button on the floor with your foot.

Kill figures provided by the Matukituki Charitable Trust give some indication of the type and number of pests threatening native birds in the Upper Clutha.

Twelve Upper Clutha groups dedicated to getting rid of rats, mice, stoats, ferrets, wild cats and possums will meet tomorrow to share their best eradication ideas.

''That's ballooning for ya'' appears to be the catchcry for those days when Nasa is about to launch one of its super-pressure helium balloons into the stratosphere, and then decides not to.

The launch of the Nasa high-pressure balloon from Wanaka Airport will not take place today.

Aviation businesses face an uncertain wait and the prospect of financial losses after the grounding of the helicopter model involved in a fatal crash last week.

It might lack the machismo of a space rocket launch, but Nasa's launch of a super pressure helium-filled balloon from Wanaka Airport on Monday, weather permitting, gives New Zealand a tiny entree into the world of space exploration. Mark Price reports.

Two 1080 poisoning programmes targeting possums are due to be carried out in the Upper Clutha this autumn or winter.

After almost eight years of providing transport for Wanaka people needing to visit Dunstan Hospital, at Clyde, the Wheels to Dunstan Trust is celebrating the purchase of a new vehicle.

Dozens of vintage and veteran cars travelled over the Haast Pass yesterday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand's first international rally in 1965, which followed the same route.

The Department of Conservation has put off its big 1080 drop in Makarora until later this year, and might even cancel it.

In 1965, David Lane, of Mt Eden, Auckland, drove over the Haast Pass.

Lake Hawea wingsuit flier David Walden has pulled off another series of three base jumps that rank among the biggest achieved in New Zealand.