Easter

If inspectors from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment were in Wanaka yesterday, almost every retailer in the resort will face fines for breaching Easter trading laws.

Imagine how you would feel if soon after the burial of a close friend or family member you went to the cemetery, only to find that the grave had been opened and the body gone.

Seventeen Otago or Southland drivers will be appearing in court on drink-driving charges after the Easter weekend blitz by police.

Otago Heritage Bus Society organisers are ''absolutely delighted'' with the response from Dunedin passengers to a service the society offered, using two restored buses, on the Good Friday public holiday.

Enjoying the fine weather, hundreds of people celebrated Easter Good Friday in Walks of the Cross and associated church services throughout Otago yesterday, including 100 walkers at Queenstown and 25 at Hampden.

Easter is the most important celebration on the Christian calendar and for Christians it is the defining event in the life of Jesus Christ.

Southern police will be closely monitoring traffic on Otago roads during Easter, when they expect large numbers of people to travel throughout the region.

The weather this weekend is expected, for the most part, to be as bright and shiny as an Easter egg, the MetService has forecast.

While most Dunedin residents indulged their chocolate cravings over Easter, members of about 50 families denied themselves the sugary treat in preparation for their alternative holy week.

Scores of overseas tourists joined many hundreds of Dunedin people at Easter Sunday church services in the city yesterday to celebrate the Christian resurrection story.

Police in Southland and Otago will have three things on their minds over the Easter break - speed, alcohol and poor driving.