Eileen Goodwin

Joanna and Tane Tokona were not quite sure what to do when they first spotted a wild tuatara that had escaped from Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

Dunedin woman Debbie Green was stunned to find she had travelled to Hamilton for a publicly-funded treatment that was available on her own doorstep.

Former district court judge Michael Guest has applied to practise law again.

Father Christmas visited the Soal family early this year, son Linkin having his new cochlear implant switched on last week.

Dunedin man Gordon Caley has two new hips, and it has changed his life. Barely able to walk earlier last year, the 80-year-old can now go sailing again.

An orthopaedic surgeon is speaking out in frustration over excessive waiting times faced by Otago hip and knee-replacement patients, and says the region is not clearing a backlog of cases.

World War 1 centenary celebrations start in 2014. A Dunedin-based group is determined pacifist Archibald Baxter and other conscientious objectors are not forgotten. Eileen Goodwin spoke to those involved.

With his sights set on a ''once in a lifetime'' opportunity to perform at Shakespeare's Globe theatre, in London, Matthew Scadden spent a wet Saturday morning busking at the Otago Farmers Market.

When he sold the last of his Jersey Benne potatoes on Saturday, it was the end of an era for Otago Farmers Market founding member Ray Goddard.

People have won over money and greed in the decision to abandon plans to increase commercial access to Otago and Southland paua, lobby group spokesman Hamish Forrester says.

June Mills is leaving the Otago-Southland Cancer Society today after 29 years working mainly in fundraising, but will continue to be involved as a new board member.

Otago Medical School graduate Dr Murray Brennan (73) is ''reinventing'' himself after performing his last operation as a New York-based cancer surgeon.

The independent practitioner association at the centre of a multimillion-dollar dispute remains adamant it owes nothing to the Southern District Health Board.

Some nurses are becoming ''seasonal workers'' at the Southern District Health Board and the nursing workforce is ''dispirited'' by cost cutting, senior doctors' union Otago president Dr Chris Wisely says.

A ''small but important'' patient group will benefit from Pharmac's decision to fund a new drug to treat a rare blood disorder, University of Otago haematologist Dr Jim Faed says.

A surgical swab left inside a patient and a patient who fell off the operating table were among incidents reported by the Southern District Health Board in the annual adverse events report, released yesterday.