Sarah Marquet

Helicopters were called in to contain a high-country fire near Roxburgh yesterday as the ground was too wet and boggy for local fire trucks to navigate.

Rain, snow and flooding has caused at least $100,000 damage to Central Otago roads but the full cost, particularly to back-country roads, may not be known until summer.

Ophir farmers are facing tens of thousands of dollars in costs to repair the Manuherikia River bank after recent floods ripped away the marginal strip and some of their land.

A lack of seasonal staff is adding to the pressures Central Otago fruit growers face from the weather and also hampering industry growth.

A Paretai man received burns early yesterday morning as he re-entered his burning home to try to retrieve possessions.

It has been a relatively quiet five months in Cromwell's pubs since police and publicans introduced a blanket ban initiative, under which someone can be trespassed from all licensed premises if they cause problems at one.

The four-year, government-funded Project Maniototo has come to an end but its legacy will live on, former project co-ordinator Amie Pont says. Sarah Marquet caught up with Mrs Pont and former project chairwoman Diane Paterson about that legacy.

Part of a Fiordland mountain climbed only once before and labelled a coveted route by climbing enthusiasts has been conquered in treacherous winter conditions by solo climber Guy McKinnon, of Christchurch.

Work to replace a flood-damaged culvert that closed a section of State Highway 1 near Waipahi earlier this month should be finished by tomorrow.

Organisers of the Naseby Ice Festival are breathing a sigh of relief.

Grapevine trunk disease is not the next big thing because it is already a problem - people just do not realise it, Young Viticulturist competition winner Simon Gourley (22) argued before about 40 people on Saturday night.

It was a chilly winter's day in Alexandra yesterday but the cold couldn't wipe the grins off the faces of more than 70 children and their supporters who spent the day on ice.

ODT reporter Sarah Marquet blogs about life in Seoul, Korea. With funding from the Asia New Zealand foundation, she is working in the newsrooms of one of South Korea's largest papers, the Joong Ang Daily, for six weeks.