Otago Daily Times

Dancers break it down in underground showdown

BACKFLIPS, windmills and even a headspinning showdown were among moves busted out at an underground Dunedin danceoff. The basement of the New Athenaeum Theatre was transformed into the battlefield for ‘‘The Yard’’ street dancing competition on...

French fire power

Oamaru family loses everything in floods

AN Oamaru woman who lost everything to flooding has described seeing ‘‘freezingcold floodwater rushing through the house’’ before emergency help arrived. Milli Maxwell said yesterday it would be months before she and her four children, all aged under...

Messi to the rescue

'SHOULDN'T BE HERE'

A DUNEDIN family are appalled and distressed after their teenaged niece with the mindset of a 5yearold was needlessly jailed without their knowledge. The couple took aim at The Mt Cargill Trust, in whose care 18yearold Rose* had lived for several...

Oamaru inundated

THE Waitaki district remained in a state of emergency overnight as questions continued over whether the council took too long to react to the impact of the storm. Rain inundated coastal Otago yesterday, while snow turned inland parts of the region...

Here we go again?

THE people of South Dunedin were once again preparing for the worst last night as steady rain since yesterday morning was due to turn into an overnight bombardment. Contractors and city council staff were on the job overnight after nearly 40mm fell in...

New Dunedin stadium chief hopeful of ‘golden age of events’

FORSYTH Barr Stadium’s new boss is confident a ‘‘golden age’’ of events is on the way for the venue. Phil King joins Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML) from Ticketek Australia where he was managing director, DVML said in a statement yesterday. Mr...

Spanning the generations

THERE might be 90 years between Joan Hardey and Persephone Wells but they have one thing in common — a love of art. The pair love drawing and painting, although they are at very different stages of their journey. Hardey, at 100, no longer paints and...

Wild ride likely for equestrian heading to Kentucky

HANGING off the side of a galloping pony while trying to pick something up off the ground is not every equestrian’s idea of a ride in the park. But for Ramsey Ashworth, it is just another day in the paddock and she will get to represent New Zealand...

Putting brakes on bus route for rural pupils ‘silly’

FOUR Dunedin families are going be adding an extra 70km per week to their school run after their bus route was axed. Friday is the last day the Henley to Outram school bus route will run, leaving seven pupils and their families to drive to Momona to...

Acquisition plan to be formulated

THE city council has no intention of ‘‘waving a heavy stick’’ at South Dunedin property owners over proposed buyups for flood mitigation work, its legal counsel says. Rather, a property acquisition plan would be recommended to ensure a fair process...

Humanity’s forgotten hero

Hundreds protest rates rise

WAITAKI’S mayor has offered no commitment to reviewing a 17% rates rise after hundreds marched in Oamaru’s main street yesterday. Residents of the district turned out in droves at Takaro Park before marching to the steps of the council building to...

Lapping the Balclutha Bridge

A CLYDEVALE cricketer is hoping to smash all boundaries during a fundraising gumboot run for his beloved club this weekend. Clutha Valley dairy farmer Harjinder ‘‘Harry’’ Chander is no stranger to extreme exercise in his rural work wear, having...

Foleys awarded $50m in hospital contracts

A DUNEDIN plumbing company has been awarded more than $50 million in work for the new hospital — the single biggest project in its 90year history. Foleys, established in 1934, has been subcontracted to do the hydraulics and civil drainage services for...

Relief as GP finally named

IT has been nearly a decadelong ordeal for Dunedin woman Nikki Cockburn to get the doctor who wronged her named in public. Now it has finally happened, Ms Cockburn said it felt like she could start a ‘‘whole new life’’. Ms Cockburn developed Cushing’s...

1000 gather to protest gender Bill

DUNEDIN’S support for its transgender, nonbinary and intersex community was on full display when about 1000 people turned out to protest the government’s gender Bill. Members of the rainbow community, allies, whanau ¯ and concerned city residents,...

Long road to wearing black

LEADING some of the country’s netball players into international competition is just a stepping stone for a Dunedin secondary school student. King’s High School year 13 pupil Vincent Laban came to Dunedin four years ago after moving with his family...

Defining finalyear moment

NO, it was not the seagulls — the loud squawks piercing the sea air were made by a cluster of Dunedin secondary school students. Yesterday, about 60 year 13 students from King’s High School celebrated the midpoint of the year — as well as the upcoming...

Something fishy about this centenarian’s longevity secret

COD liver oil — and the occasional toffee — might just be the secret to a long and happy life, if recently minted Kaka Point centenarian Rona Williamson is anything to go by. Mrs Williamson (nee Potiki) celebrated her 100th birthday with about 100...

Library ‘hive of activity, a haven’

A LOCAL mother has skipped trips to the city centre in favour of the new South Dunedin library facilities thanks to all the toys available. Last week, the council said that the opening of the South Dunedin Community Library had been ‘‘punctuated by...

Lights, stories, performances thrill carnival attendees

THOUSANDS gathered to celebrate light in the darkness of winter at a soldout Dunedin Midwinter Carnival. Held after dark at the First Church on Friday and Saturday, the annual event featured moving acts, musicians and aerial displays which...

Paradise under threat

A QUEENSTOWN landowner has spoken out against a fasttracked housing development and the threat it poses to the region’s rural character. Kaye Eden lived on the Branches Station — a highcountry farm in the Shotover River headwaters — after moving there...

Nocturnal creatures take the spotlight

NOCTURNAL creatures will come alive at this year’s Dunedin Midwinter Carnival. The annual event held at First Church and its surrounding grounds has had a bit of a revamp, and publicist Jess Covell said this year’s theme was a ‘‘rustle in the...

Fears afterhours care may be cut

WANAKA could be left in the ‘‘scary’’ position of having no afterhours treatment if massive cuts to funding go ahead, a GP says. Under the changes to primary care funding, Wānaka has been reclassified as a first tier rural area due to its increased...

Where have all the DVDs gone?

IS Dunedin running out of DVDs? You may have thought so if you went searching for one at the Regent Theatre Music Sale on Saturday. The section was all but cleared less than 20 minutes after the doors opened. Regent Music Sale coordinator Kath...

Roadworks costing businesses

A DUNEDIN cafe owner says the business is ‘‘haemorrhaging money’’ in the tens of thousands just two months after opening because of controversial roadworks. Alto Express coowner Bryony Smith said they had been throwing out hundreds of dollars worth...

Whale, hello there! Marine mammals visit Otago Harbour

THEY told Mila Smith de Zeeuw: ‘‘Go study in Dunedin. It’ll be great. You’ll have a whale of a time’’. But the 18yearold University of Otago firstyear student remained sceptical — until yesterday afternoon. When word of three humpback whales...

First families move into homes under philanthropic scheme

CHACE Moody reckons without Roger Fewtrell, his young family would not have been able to buy their first home. Mr Moody is among the first few Dunedin families to take up the developer’s offer and move into one of his affordable homes intended to...

Youths flaunt car stealing exploits

YOUTHS stealing up to six cars a night in Dunedin have boasted of their exploits in TikTok videos showing cars speeding at 200kmh and fleeing police. A Dunedin resident said the offenders, a group of youths all under the age of 16, were receiving...

For sale — but with a wee catch

THE house of Dunedin’s first secondary school rector has sat, long forgotten, below a central city street, and now someone has the chance to breathe new life into it. The 160yearold home has retained many of its original features, including ornate...

Competitions tap into dancing talent

DUNEDIN loves to tap in time to the music. That is the verdict of Dunedin Tap dancing Society president Denise Henderson after a busy King’s Birthday weekend of competitions at Coronation Hall in Mosgiel. ‘‘If you go around the country, pretty much...

Black Caps coming to Dunedin

NATHAN Smith has probably booked himself a starting spot for the test series against England later this month. The former Otago seamer took six for 40 on day two of the oneoff test against Ireland in Belfast. The rightarmer, who plays his...

Budget no frills and no thrills

FINANCE Minister Nicola Willis promised that Budget 2026 would not be one to get the pulse racing, and boy did she deliver. Her Budget speech gave an early clue that adrenalineraising announcements would be thin on the ground. She was a fifth of the...

Higher honours for netballers

THERE must be something in the water. Four Dunedin netballers have been named in the New Zealand secondary schools team heading to Australia for the first time since 2023 next month. St Hilda’s Collegiate netballers Charlee Farquhar and Ruby Hore and...

Debating team wins national final

THREE Dunedin secondary school students were so focused on winning the national debating tournament in Parliament, Christopher Luxon himself could not have shaken their focus. Columba College students Emily Roy, 17, and Beth Elder, 16, and Trinity...

‘They meant everything to us’

TODDLER SapphireHope Couch, who died in a Christchurch house fire which also killed her mother, is being remembered for her ‘‘infectious smile that could light up any room’’. The 3yearold — known as Sapphy — was killed in the fire on Whitehall St,...

General knowledge crossword

Smiles for ‘pretty impressive milestone’

PLAYING on a football ground as hard as concrete and ‘‘cold as’’, many parents had to tell their budding young football stars it was ‘‘character building’’. Even the organisers of yesterday’s 50th anniversary Green Island Junior Football Club...

Rapid fire destroys family home

HORRIFIED children watched from the car as their remote Southland farmhouse burst into flames seconds after their mother opened the front door. Fifteen minutes later the family had lost everything. Eden Anderton and Devon Roman and their three...

Councils square off over port

THE ‘‘cashstrapped’’ Dunedin City Council has been warned to keep its hands off Port Otago, as three city councillors eye up regional assets. In an opinion piece in today’s Otago Daily Times, Dunedin city councillors Lee Vandervis, Andrew Simms and...

Historic furniture firm shutting up shop

ONE of Dunedin’s oldest companies, Otago Furniture, is closings it doors. The business, which started making furniture in 1868, was left with few options and has decided to close, resulting in its 17 employees losing their jobs. The company had been...

City ‘best place’ for family of new citizens

THEY have had the best of times and then the Christchurch Mosque terrorist attacks brought the worst of times — but the Ashif family say they have no regrets about immigrating to New Zealand. Fijianborn and raised Mohammed Ashif said he moved to...

Businesses want compensation

THE Dunedin City Council has been slammed for ‘‘absolute incompetence’’ over roadworks, which have forced two businesses to close their doors. One business said the work in Kaikorai Valley Rd had cost them nearly all foot traffic, affected hundreds of...

Weather

A company that’s quietly raising the residential bar in Dunedin

In a city steeped in architectural history, property development carries a big responsibility. For Blue Sky Property director Lyndon Fairbairn, that responsibility has shaped the business, by prioritising design quality, liveability, and long-term...

All yours, shark: sighting clears water at St Clair

ABOUT 100 people reportedly exited the water at Dunedin’s St Clair Beach yesterday after the alarm was sounded over a possible shark sighting. Surf Lifesaving New Zealand is reminding people to be vigilant, but to not be dissuaded from heading into...

Weather

Jumble crossword

Bugler Maia, 8, following family tradition

AN 8yearold will continue in the footsteps of her grandfather and greatgreatgrandfather when she plays the Last Post and reveille in Otautau tomorrow for Anzac Day. Maia Carran will play the bugle calls on an instrument belonging to her...

Concern for students over high rents

AS struggling students ‘‘below the poverty line’’ resort to couchsurfing, properties in the heart of North Dunedin’s campus area are selling for north of a $1 million. Castle St’s ‘‘Thirsty’’ student flat was listed earlier this month for $1,050,000....

Cryptic crossword

Weather

Jumbo Crossword

World champs training regime on a roll

WHO needs a strict world championship training regime when you can just stack shelves and roll ice creams in a corner dairy? Dunedinbased table tennis player Wang Qi is in the final weeks of preparation for the International Table Tennis Federation...

Homecoming for artists’ work

IT began with a river. Travelling along the Waitaki River three years ago, from the river mouth to the base of Aoraki/Mt Cook, a group of Ngāi Tahu artists began a project that has taken them internationally for the first time and home again. More...

Weather

Veterans rapt to be back in action

NIGEL Welsh and Stuart Sinclair will be riding with a smile on their dial at the Otago Rally — it is their first time back together on the road in more than 40 years. The pair are taking this seriously enough — they have ordered a custombuilt Ford...

Explosive email chain leaked

AN explosive email chain has revealed infighting at the Dunedin City Council over a planned homelessness outreach service. The decisionmaking process was slammed as ‘‘woeful’’ by one councillor — Russell Lund. The council had reached a new low point,...