Juggling skills with safety and tackling annoyingly difficult high-tension steel fencing wire, all while racing the clock. That was the arduous task facing teams competing in the first-ever secondary schools fencing competition.
Alyson Shipley had never played an actual game of cricket before she took to the field as an umpire in Canterbury. Now she's on a path to one day taking control of national and international level matches.
It is a busy time of the year for contractors in the Waimakariri District with many major roading and infrastructure projects being started before summer arrives.
The organisers of the Alpine Winter Festival in Hanmer say they have everything ready to go - and now all they need is for the weather to play ball and dump some snow on the surrounding mountains.