Hamish MacLean

Plantings rather than stone could replace the failed wall in Severn St, Oamaru, which came tumbling down after heavy rain before the start of winter.

Pracitcal skills are the focus for a suite of Literacy North Otago classes beginning next week.

Waitaki's freedom camping bylaw submissions closed this week, drawing only a "light'' response from the district's ratepayers.

Waitaki District Council building officers have noted a "concerning level'' of non-compliance at building sites this winter, customer services group manager Richard Mabon says.

Sealing Haven St, in Moeraki, last year was probably a mistake, the Waitaki District Council's assets group manager, Neil Jorgensen, says.

How did the penguin cross the road? Underneath it, of course.

A drone photograph shows the extent of the work on the $22million Observatory Retirement Village six months after work began.

Heavy swells in June have undermined the beach at Oamaru's foreshore "significantly'', the Waitaki District Council's roading manager says.

Donning a red beret to celebrate Bastille Day is Excelsior Petanque member David Gardiner, of Oamaru.

St Hilda's Collegiate School flanker Meg Timu, daughter of former All Black John Timu, made a break for the line in the second half of the Dunedin school's round-robin game against Nelson's Waimea College at the annual girls rugby festival in Oamaru yesterday.

Seven wallaby carcasses were found on a beach south of Kakanui at the weekend.

Rock fans can rejoice.

A $660,000 upgrade of the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony will begin before the end of the month.

After meeting at Waitaki Boys' High School five decades ago former head of senior English Derek Bolt, of Motueka, and financial author and former pupil Martin Hawes, of Queenstown, got reacquainted yesterday.