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More than 600 people turned out yesterday for South Canterbury's first Matariki Festival in what organisers said was "a dream come true".

Spectators are expected to turn out in force for the Rotary Club of Waitaki's fourth annual Mud Plug four-wheel-drive competition this year, and could raise up to $6000 in the process.

Sports fans have been warned their vehicles could be towed away if they block driveways around Oamaru's Centennial Park.

The participation of children from Oamaru Intermediate School (OIS) in a march to deliver a message proposing a moratorium on Government cuts to specialist teacher numbers was yesterday condemned by Waitaki and National Party MP Jacqui Dean.

Police in Oamaru say they are ready to throw the book at the people responsible for a growing number of incidents involving unwanted text messages.

Blasts from the past do not usually come with a full dose of sensory overload, but that is not the case with the North Otago Museum's homage to the well known childhood panacea Lane's Emulsion.

A bus services review could see some Taieri parents travelling 200km a week to take their children to bus stops.

An Oamaru pensioner aged in her mid-80s was taken to hospital yesterday after being bitten by a dog in Usk St.

About 200 budgies went on show over the weekend, as part of the North Otago Bird Fanciers Club 50th jubilee celebrations in Oamaru.

The Criterion Hotel in Oamaru may have been closed to customers yesterday, but it was still proving as popular as ever with tourists keen for a snap of the Victorian-era pub.

Southern district police and LandSAR representatives throughout Otago are to establish greater cross-district co-operation during large-scale operations similar to last month's exhaustive efforts in the Ahuriri Valley to locate missing Dunedin man David Palmer.

Raising efforts to provide North Otago Search and Rescue with a new forward command unit this week reached the halfway point, despite the Waitaki District Council's refusal to contribute financially towards the purchase.

A North Otago charity is to offer "ongoing" assistance to enable a new generation of medical leaders in Haiti improve its struggling health system.

School-age cyclists in North Otago are to get free bicycle lights under a new Sport Waitaki and Waitaki District Council safety initiative.

A new book and DVD detailing the history of the Five Forks School and the area west of Oamaru had unearthed a "fascinating history", the two North Otago researchers behind the project say.