Dave Cannan

Ask any golfer - from a 36 handicapper to a PGA tour hotshot - and they will tell you the same story; if you can't hole the putts, then you can't expect to shoot low scores.

"Sort out five memorable moments from the New Zealand Open," said the Sports editor. So Dave Cannan trawled through the record books and dusty newspaper files from the previous 91 New Zealand Golf Opens and came up with these on the eve of next week's Michael Hill NZ Open at The Hills . . .

Places in the final field for the $NZ830,000 Michael Hill New Zealand Open at The Hills next week are at stake in Christchurch over the next few days.

North Otago's fire risk status was elevated to "high" yesterday after several fires throughout the district this week.

Jan Harper's 30-year dream to own her own butchery in a small town was realised this week when she opened the Blue Spur Butchery and Deli in the main street of Lawrence.

The closure this week of Skippers Rd, for urgent repairs, is another small chapter in a lengthy history of maintenance problems this "demanding and at times terrifying" 17km route has posed its owners since it was first opened about 1890.

Queenstown skifield operators are promising to come down hard on those caught trying to use fraudulent lift passes at the Remarkables and Coronet Peak, after several offenders were nabbed last weekend.

Extra efforts have been taken to vandal-proof safety beacons on Lake Wakatipu after two men were disturbed recently trying to steal them, Queenstown Lakes district harbourmaster Marty Black says.

The "fragile state" of the historic Skippers Rd has forced its closure to the public for urgent repairs this week.

If you were a tourist in the 1950s and drawn to the wild, untamed beauty of the Kinloch-Routeburn Valley area, then chances are your trip involved a ride in one of Harry Bryant's fleet of buses.

It used to be one of the most popular winter destinations in Arrowtown - and even hosted a national championship - but these days the former Nairn St ice-skating rink is part of the recreational reserve.

If you think the winter of 2009 is a particularly cold one, look at today's historic image from the Lakes District Museum collection.

TSS Earnslaw, which undergoes her annual survey this week, has been steaming the waters of Lake Wakatipu for nearly 100 years.

Arrowtown's Chinese heritage features in today's historic photograph from the Lakes District Museum collection, showing the huts and market gardens on the banks of Bush Creek, a tributary of the Arrow River, at the western end of the town.

Today's historic photograph from the Lakes District Museum collection is a reminder of a famous event in Queenstown's history nearly 135 years ago which thrust the town on to the world stage.

A man died at the scene of a fire near Arrowtown last night which destroyed a house understood to be owned by yachtsman Russell Coutts.

NZSKI Ltd's owners are this winter hoping to reap the benefits of a $78 million spend-up on its three skifields during the past six years.

The fire which on Monday night destroyed a large house owned by yachting star Russell Coutts is not being treated as suspicious.

After six years as the run-off-her-feet co-ordinator of the Arrowtown Autumn Festival, Julie Hughes is "retiring".