Hamish MacLean

Just over a year ago, Oamaru drummer Rowan Park walked into Mainstreet Music in Lower Thames St with an idea.

Young ones these days ... they will do anything to get out of class.

Construction of Oamaru's $23million retirement village is on track and the facility is due to open in 2017.

Police have released the name of a woman who died after a 4WD driven by her husband plunged 300m down a slope in a ''remote'' location near Omarama yesterday.

Installing a board of trustees could take longer than she first signalled, Waitaki Boys' High School commissioner Nicola Hornsey says.

New blood is needed on the board of the trust that oversees the heart of Oamaru's tourism district, a heritage precinct tenant says.

The owner of a Wanaka cafe where a 1-year-old boy burnt his hand on lights in the floor planned to fix the problem yesterday afternoon.

Waitaki District Council recreation manager Erik van der Spek, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher, project leader John Baster and Tourism Waitaki operations manager Wendy Simpson test drive the latest art installation at the Oamaru waterfront.

A long-awaited expansion of the penguin colony near Oamaru Creek could become a reality this year.

Musical Theatre Dunedin had a very big night in Oamaru on Saturday.

Regent Park Superstition deserves a good rest after Saturday's North Otago A&P show, his owner Angela Darke says.

Riki Wills, of Banks Building, works on a mystery installation yesterday at Oamaru's waterfront that is already getting a reaction.

The Oamaru couple who first raised the alarm about South Hill's screaming peacock are frustrated by the Waitaki District Council's inability to catch the bird.