With knitting, crocheting and other wool crafts regaining popularity, Otago Daily Times reporter Sarah Marquet talks to a Central Otago family running an artisan wool business - Touch Yarns.
People in Central Otago over the weekend were spoiled for choice when it came to wine and food sampling, as both Cromwell and Alexandra hosted festivals on Saturday afternoon.
Trent Forbes (6), of Invercargill, wants to be ''just like Dad'' when he grows up.
About 6.5kg of ''aerodynamically grown'' cherries had their flesh eaten before their stones were forcefully spat out in front of a few hundred spectators in Cromwell yesterday.
With $1000 worth of prizes up for grabs, 37 women and two men strutted their stuff at the first ever Fashion in the Field event at the Roxburgh Trotting Club meet yesterday. Event co-ordinator Jocelyn Paterson, of Roxburgh, said it was a ''great response'' and it was particularly good to see a lot of locals entering.
Rebecca Farrell The Packing Shed Gallery and Cafe and The Courthouse Cafe Alexandra.
As Ryan Cameron was gearing up on Wednesday for one of the biggest days on his calendar, the Wanaka Rodeo, his wife entered the early stages of labour.
Craig and Sandy McKay, of Dunedin, and Sue Kirwan, of Loburn, (pictured at left) were among about 60 people who retraced the steps of Maniototo's early miners yesterday as part of a week-long celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold in the area.
Some Central Otago orchardists yesterday used helicopters to help dry off their rain-affected cherry crops.
In the normally quiet Maniototo township of Naseby about 1000 people gathered yesterday for the fifth annual Naseby Family Fun Day - about 10 times the town's usual population.
Photo by Sarah Marquet.
Sprint cars line up to begin the ''War of the Wings'' at Central Motor Speedway in Cromwell last night.
A late-afternoon rain shower, with thunder and lightning, had organisers ''hugely worried'', because the club's event scheduled for the previous night, the South Island Saloon Series, had been rained off, club promotions co-ordinator Joanne Gaudion said.
Despite a quick shower of rain, thunder and lightning, 627 bikers turned out for the 17th annual Bannockburn Mountain Bike Classic yesterday, leaving organisers well pleased.
The Naseby and Surrounding Goldfields 150th Jubilee will start tomorrow, meaning a golden start to the new year in the Maniototo.
Volunteer firefighters extinguish a blaze which charred about 1.5ha of grass and scrub on a rural Lowburn Valley property north of Cromwell last night.
Bannockburn, an area steeped in golden history, has a special appeal that sees generation after generation of the same families escaping Dunedin and Invercargill to holiday at the local domain. Sarah Marquet went to meet some of those people to find out what brings them back each year.
Woodchips and axes flew in Cromwell yesterday as 25 men and women attacked 115 willow logs in the Southland Otago Axemen's Association wood-chopping competition.
There were cowboy hats aplenty in Millers Flat yesterday, as well as woolly hats, blankets and winter jerseys and jackets.
Camping grounds around Central Otago are starting to fill up, with some owners predicting larger-than-usual crowds.
Christine Oliver, of Dunedin, hunts out a bargain at the 25th annual Rotary book sale in Alexandra yesterday.
The Christmas spirit was alive and well in Alexandra yesterday as about 30 people gave their time and effort to the 12th annual Alexandra community Christmas lunch.
