Hamish MacLean

The plight of Southern farmers last year has led to a first for New Zealand.

Tuapeka Aquatic Centre chairman Garry McCorkindale brings South Otago reporter Hamish MacLean up to speed on the near-complete Tuapeka Aquatic Centre in Lawrence.

The Lombardy poplars that have greeted travellers from the east to Lawrence for decades are coming down.

Ten Stirling school pupils were in the good books yesterday.

It was not the outcome searchers wanted, but there was relief among those involved in the search effort after the seven-day search for Ian Mathieson ended on Wednesday evening, police said.

The family of Ian Mathieson is still holding out hope the 79-year-old who has been missing since Wednesday night will be found alive.

Police and LandSAR teams continued to search fields near Balclutha today for a missing 79-year-old Romahapa man.

Two Mosgiel men were lucky to survive a plane crash at Balclutha today, police say.

Expectations were high for the 2015 Hokonui Fashion Design Awards after the Eastern Southland fashion community rallied behind the event following the death of awards executive producer Heather Paterson in February.

The effects of the low dairy payout will begin to hit rural communities now, Otago Rural Support Trust co-ordinator David Mellish says.

This Toyota Wish was involved in a two-car crash in Milton yesterday which resulted in two Milton women being sent to Dunedin Hospital suffering serious but non life-threatening injuries.

Leadman Russell (Ibby) Ibbotson (46), of Kaka Point, has challenged his father, Catlins Historical Society president Leadman (Ibby) Ibbotson (68), of Owaka, to go clean shaven for the first time in nearly 40 years as the two Catlins men go head to head in a beard growing contest.

For those who want more of Otago's cycle trail network, there is hope.

A Balclutha pensioner says rates rises over the next six years will force him out of his home of 20 years.

Catlins photographer Hayden Campbell has been surfing where he shoots for more than 20 years.

For the second time this winter a Kaka Point man has returned home to find the sheep that graze his property bloodied and maimed after an apparent dog attack.

After three years at South Otago High School, outgoing principal Joanne Hutt says she knows the year 9-13 school will continue to thrive after she leaves at the end of term 3.