Lynda van Kempen

A computer program believed to be a world first will breathe life into the ghost towns that once served the Bendigo goldfields.

Three-year-old Jack Hamilton broke the ice at yesterday's citizenship ceremony in Alexandra, cheering: ''Yay, Daddy!'' after his father was sworn in.

The woman killed in a head-on collision near Alexandra on Monday was an American citizen based in Wanaka.

Tarras Water Ltd has withdrawn its second consecutive prospectus after failing to find a dry shareholder for its proposed $36.5 million Tarras irrigation scheme and may have to ''concede defeat''.

Central Otago community boards no longer have the power to make decisions on water services infrastructure within their area, after a ''momentous'' ruling by the district council yesterday.

State Highway 6 through the Kawarau Gorge has reopened to traffic after the major rockfall which forced north bound motorists to take an hour-long detour on the Crown Range Rd was cleared.

Central Otago's emergency management officer, Hamish Keith, has a simple hope: a generous measure of sunshine to drive drying out the waterlogged district, please.

Ice sports fans have been left cooling their heels in Naseby as a lack of the vital ingredient - ice - has delayed the opening of the luge track and skating rink.

Homes with excessively smoking chimneys in Otago's worst air pollution towns will be targeted in coming months and residents given a deadline to ''clear the air'' as the battle to improve air quality intensifies.

New district plan rules will ''severely restrict'' the expansion of one of Central Otago's larger vineyards, which is located under high-voltage power lines, the vineyard owners claim.

Motorists are still being warned to avoid travel in Central Otago, particularly in the Maniototo, after more snow overnight.

Three hunters snowed in at a hut near Lake Onslow, at Millers Flat, were "hugely relieved" to be rescued by helicopter yesterday afternoon.

Three hunters were ''unwise'' risking their lives heading into a remote part of Central Otago when a snowstorm that buried their vehicle was forecast but did the right thing remaining in a hut when the storm struck, Alexandra police and search officials said yesterday.

The board of Tarras Water Ltd yesterday moved to counter what it called ''misinformation and wrong conclusions drawn'' in a report on the proposed irrigation scheme being considered by the Otago Regional Council today.

The Environment Court is divided over whether damming should be banned on the Nevis River.

His small company's ''big buy'' was the highlight of Allan Kane's 14 years as chairman of Pioneer Generation.

A debate that divided Environment Court commissioners - whether damming should be banned on the Nevis River - will now be considered by Environment Minister Amy Adams.