Mark Price

Two southern volunteer firefighters who have raced up the 1103 steps of Auckland's 328m Sky Tower are moving on to something even tougher.

Wanaka's World War 2 Hawker Hurricane P3351 fighter plane has been dismantled and shipped to a new owner in France.

Even opera-loving babies in Wanaka and Queenstown will be catered for at this year's Festival of Colour.

American Pulitzer prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh (75) will be one of the speakers at this year's Wanaka Festival of Colour, in April.

The announcement yesterday that Cardrona Ski Resort, near Wanaka, will be put up for sale has drawn a generally positive response from the ski and tourism industries.

A Dunedin artist who has spent many hours inside a computed tomography (CT) scanner is one of those who has given work for this weekend's CT scanner appeal auction in Wanaka.

Wanaka paragliding pilot Grant Middendorf, of Lake Hawea, has claimed the title of national champion at the end of eight days of competition in the skies over Queenstown and Wanaka.

Two European paragliding pilots flying and walking the Southern Alps from Queenstown to Nelson are battling the elements south of Mt Cook on their epic 800km journey.

Paragliding pilots joke their sport is often referred to as ''parawaiting'' - because the weather is often unsuitable for flying.

The company that sprayed young willows and other weeds alongside Lakeside Dr in Wanaka says the work was done ''by the book''.

Usually at 6 o'clock in the evening, Russell Buchanan (90), of Beacon Point Rd, Wanaka, can be found sitting in his lounge watching the television news with his granddaughter.

Were the Upper Clutha lakes once home to beaver? Wanaka historian Richie Hewitt has drawn together all the known accounts of beaver and otter sightings over the last 240 years and does not discount the possibility an animal of that sort lived in the South, or still does. Mark Price reports.

Wanaka has its first ''garden of national significance''.

The Chinese New Year, on February 10, has lifted the crayfishing industry out of the doldrums.

Wendy Smith has always been a high-flier - literally. Skydive Wanaka's new operations manager has almost 20,000 parachute jumps under her wings. Mark Price reports.

Tarras resident Mark Davidson believes if the Tarras Water Company fails in its bid to set up a new source of irrigation water for the Tarras district, the community will be torn apart.

Human excrement allegedly deposited by freedom campers is still fouling the southwestern shore of Lake Hawea and local residents are again calling for action.

A young Wanaka kayaker has won a silver medal at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

If Challenge Wanaka had a prize for the most unlucky triathlete at the weekend, it might have gone to Wanaka hopeful Simone Maier.