Rosie Manins

Thousands of people are expected to converge on Ranfurly today for the 10th annual Rural Art Deco Maniototo festival.

Touring the South Island at 25kmh on a tractor is a big task, but about 50 people involved in a fundraising venture for the Child Cancer Foundation say it is well worth the effort.

Alexandra and Clyde residents are the inspiration behind a play to be performed by the Clyde Theatre Group later this year.

Paid youth workers have been employed at the Ranfurly Youth Centre for the first time since it was officially opened almost two years ago.

It was "love at first sight" for Wedderburn Tavern owners Eric and Ngaire Leathley when they saw the 125-year-old building almost six years ago, but the couple have decided to sell and pursue other projects in the Maniototo.

One of Otago's smallest and most isolated schools has a bright future, thanks to a dramatic increase in its roll to six pupils.

Maniototo's Catholic Women's League members are hanging up their aprons after 56 consecutive years of catering for the annual Maniototo A and P show.

Merino sheep took centre stage at the 111th annual Maniototo Agricultural and Pastoral Association Show held in Ranfurly yesterday.

Cromwell's youth centre is benefiting from research done by a Norwegian business student who is in Central Otago for part of her course.

Maniototo Area School principal Peter Heron is heading to a South Auckland high school from mid-May.

Aviation enthusiasts were treated to a rare spectacle at the Idaburn airstrip this week when a DC-3 heritage airliner and P-51D Mustang took to the sky. Rosie Manins joined hundreds of Maniototo residents and school children at the rural airstrip, near Oturehua, for the Southern DC3 Charitable Trust's Heartland Tour of the South Island.

An upgrade of the Drybread Cemetery is on track following offers of support and practical help from people throughout New Zealand.

Piloting the DC-3 heritage airliner at Idaburn had a special significance for former Patearoa resident Dave Paterson.

Dunstan High School's new principal was welcomed to the Alexandra school with a powhiri yesterday morning, but said moving to Central Otago felt like "coming home".

Rain, giant sheep, mini golf, statues, large gold pans, and wind turbines were discussed by Maniototo Community Board members at a meeting in Ranfurly this week.