Lynda van Kempen

Plans for Cromwell's $20 million motorsport park were still on track although the "cautious" state of the international automotive industry meant construction was unlikely to begin tomorrow, one of the directors said yesterday.

Dunstan Hospital is looking at buying a vehicle and setting up a roster of volunteer drivers to transport patients to Dunedin as a "last-resort" measure when an ambulance is unavailable.

The flow-on effect of being an expert on dams has taken Alexandra engineer Peter Mulvihill to the World Water Forum in Turkey and back home to be honoured by his peers in this country, all in the past week.

Poolburn School added some extra spice to the curriculum yesterday in honour of its board chairman Graham Sinnamon, who plans to run the 150km length of the Otago Central Rail Trail, starting tomorrow morning.

The new Alexandra Kindergarten was a hive of activity yesterday, with tradesmen adding the final touches indoors and volunteers hard at work on the landscaping.

Christine Rankin will be one of the guest speakers at this weekend's Rotary District 9980 conference in Cromwell.

Central Otago orchardists are smiling after enjoying a good season with sufficient staff to get the crops off the trees, in stark contrast to last year's "disaster".

A Christchurch truck driver drove around Queenstown for several hours yesterday morning without realising taggers had painted a racist message on the side of his truck.

Indian students are studying horticulture at Otago Polytechnic's Cromwell campus as part of a scheme aimed at boosting graduate numbers in the industry.

Defending champions are well placed to retain their titles in the 2009 Goldrush multisport race, with the final day of competition today.

More than 200 young mountain bikers from all over Central Otago sharpened their skills at the Meridian Kids Bike Jam in Cromwell yesterday.

It seems the old Wedderburn railway goods shed is an inspirational piece of architecture.

Cromwell's swimming pool is open again on Saturdays now that extra people have been employed to staff the facility.