Nigel Benson

Two people were injured when a car crashed on State Highway 1, about 20km north of Dunedin last night.

At a time of the year most people are relaxing, Otago Daily Times marketing co-ordinator Jess Peck has been run off her feet.

A sea lion pup born at Tomahawk Beach last year has been found dead at Allans Beach, at the end of Otago Peninsula.

A great book is a great book, no matter the subject. So why do sports books often get such a bad name? Sports editor Hayden Meikle hands over to Arsenal fan Nigel Benson for this one.

Dunedin musician Andrew Hornby (22) leaves the X-Factor NZ audition room at Logan Park High School in Dunedin yesterday.

It was the year that had a bit of everything. A bit like most other years, really. Nigel Benson looks back on 2012.

A South African rugby fan arrived in Dunedin this week on an epic journey.

The world ends tomorrow morning, according to some.

Holy water is being used in a bid to improve Otago commercial fishing catches. Catholic priest Fr Mark Chamberlain blessed three Careys Bay fishing boats yesterday morning, before sprinkling holy water on the decks and anointing them with oil.

John Young has seen some strange things in 49 years in the electrical game. Like the time a severed human hand was thrown at him at a job.

The long arm of the law saved the day for a new lawyer in Dunedin yesterday.

Who wants to go for walkies when you can be a bikie? Ruby, the Jack Russell terrier, loves nothing more than donning her leathers and going for a spin.

The next generation of Dunedin anglers took the bait at the New Zealand Salmon Anglers Association Otago open day at Sawyers Bay yesterday. Anglers young and old took the opportunity to wet a line and sample some local delicacies of the sea including, of course, plenty of salmon.

More than 100 people of all ages enjoyed a Christmas sing-a-long in the Lady Thorn Rhododendron Dell at Port Chalmers yesterday.

George Street Normal School may have to change its name. The Dunedin school's achievements have been anything but normal over the past two years.

Library volunteer Amanda Morrison, better known as ''Mandy Mayhem'', admires her 2012 Dunedin Public Libraries Citation with head of customer services Mike Collett in the Dunningham Room yesterday.

Years 9 and 10 pupils at Dunedin's Queen's High School have been given book bags in an initiative to combat a traditional drop in literacy levels over the summer break.

A free-entry play set in the rubble of a main street building dominated the 2012 Dunedin Theatre Awards last night.

Special project was celebrated at Tahuna Intermediate School yesterday. The final sculpture was unveiled in a series of four which honour the school values of responsibility, success, respect and creativity.

Our ancestors must have looked down with pride on the reopening of Toitu Otago Settlers Museum yesterday. It felt like a celebration of Dunedin's past, present and future.