Hamish MacLean

A little-understood disease has ravaged mainland New Zealand’s two largest yellow-eyed penguin colonies this year, and the volunteers who look after the birds are "heartbroken" by the loss.

"The lady with the lamp", Florence Nightingale, returned to London after the Crimean War ended  in 1856, but might turn up in Oamaru 160 years later.

Upgrading the Brydone Hotel in Oamaru will be the immediate focus of the Oamaru Licensing Trust this term,  trust chairman Ali Brosnan says.

Resource recovery centres around Otago opened their doors to ''zero waste'' enthusiasts this week.

Oamaru Harbour attracts locals and tourists alike, but now researchers could start coming in higher numbers, too.

Waitaki  health authorities will lead the implementation of recommendations from a services review made public yesterday, the Southern District Health Board says.

Charlotte Cunningham (14), of Waitaki Girls' High School, tests her dribbling skills at the North Otago turf at Centennial Park yesterday.

Negotiations for land access for the $5.2 million pipeline to supply Oamaru water to southern Waitaki towns are continuing with a "small number of landowners".

An Oamaru cycling advocate is "ecstatic" work is about to start on a children’s learn-to-ride bike park at Oamaru Harbour.

When three streets shut in Oamaru in November, the tourist season begins.

Shortlisted candidates for the top job at Waitaki Boys’ High School will be interviewed next week.

The "personalities'' of penguins are under examination in Otago.

November  marks a new era for some North Otago farmers as the North Otago Irrigation Company is expected to reach two milestones in its $57million expansion project.

Tourism Waitaki general manager Jason Gaskill is remaining tight-lipped about Oamaru’s next tourism attraction.