Rebecca Fox

The Royal New Zealand Ballet has just opened its 2015 season with the classical and colourful Don Quixote. Rebecca Fox finds out how its dancers and choreographer were feeling after opening night.

A Taieri couple want to thank the motorists who stopped and helped put out a roadside fire which could have caused a ''conflagration'' on their property if it had got out of control.

Rumours of water being taken illegally are surfacing in Otago as farmers face increasing pressure from the continuing dry weather and resulting irrigation restrictions.

Fans of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will not be disappointed by the sequel.

As the lyrics to a popular television soap opera say, ''neighbours should be there for one another as that is when good neighbours become good friends''.

Bright, pretty and tall young things have been put through their paces in the hope of securing a spot in Dunedin's iD Fashion Week.

Thunderstorms caused surface flooding and briefly interrupted power in parts of Central Otago at the weekend - but also brought smiles to farmers' faces.

After two years and two knockbacks, Southern Clams' proposal to finish oysters in Otago Harbour will finally go out for public consultation.

Otago rivers are dropping steadily again as the benefits from rain earlier this month evaporate.

Helping administer anaesthetic and fluids to an injured yellow-eyed penguin during surgery was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for two young marine biologists.

The cost of complying with new water-quality regulations could be the ''nail in the coffin'' for some Central Otago farmers, Otago Regional Councillor Gary Kelliher says.

Dorothy Mackle says she learnt early on that her husband Leslie would not argue with her.

Woody wags his tail and jumps for sticks madly like any terrier, but when he puts on his red jacket he is all business.

When Hamish Spencer calls his wife an old fossil, it is not the insult people might think.

Underwater flight - looking over a Yellow-eyed penguin's shoulder from Tawaki Project on Vimeo. Bobbing up to the surface of the sea, a yellow-eyed penguin takes only a small breath before she dives down again in her search for food.

Significant rainfall has eased the ongoing dry period in Otago, but some farmers are still subject to irrigation restrictions.