Steve Hepburn

This is a good news police story. It does have movie potential — a hero cop, a cute baby, a couple against some odds, bad weather, and — at a stretch — some Lord of the Rings scenery.

Two trees at the centre of resource consent hearing in Gore will be felled — but their descendants will live on.

Crown-owned camping grounds at Lake Dunstan will remain open but issues remain around the funding of their upkeep.

Land Information New Zealand was struggling to cope with the influx of freedom campers to its camping sites around Lake Dunstan and may close them, a select committee was told yesterday.

Not many people get a book based on their efforts.

A protest is planned on Monday against proposed changes to Observation Rock in Stewart Island, as opponents say trying to improve the site will only destroy it.