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They may be relatively remote from the main urban areas but that hasn’t stopped the Glenorchy community from leading the charge in the southern region with its hugely successful door-to-door community composting programme.

South Island firearms owners, especially those from the Southern and Canterbury Police districts, are leading the way in the new Firearm Registry.

Freshwater anglers are being asked to keep an eye out for pest species after a grass carp was caught in an Otago lake. It is believed the carp was released into contained ponds near Queenstown, but may have escaped during spring floods and swum down river into Lake Dunstan, said Otago Fish and Game.

Sunday morning's torrential rain will have been welcomed by the lower South Island's rural firefighters. Last week, the fire risk was 'extreme' across the regions after weeks of dry hot summer days combined with windy conditions - turning the wooded hills and scrub into a tinderbox.

This Saturday Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall will be transformed to be a wee bit Scottish as it hosts Burns Night celebrations. The event, which is in honour of the 18th Century poet Robert Burns, will include a three-course meal, good craic, poetry readings, a band, traditional dance and drinks.

With the start of this new year, we’ve decided to re-activate The Tight Five as a summer series to inform, inspire and highlight the creative undercurrent of our district. First up for 2024 is sculptural artist Melissa Macleod.

Debbie Swain-Rewi’s life may have been an emotional rollercoaster that could’ve tipped many over the edge. Instead, it built resilience and instilled immense gratitude and compassion in a heart that’s still constantly pouring out to others.

The 10-day Queenstown Bike Festival will kick off this Friday, hosting more than 30 events around Queenstown to suit all riding levels. The festival is a fundraiser for Queenstown Mountain Bike Club (QMTBC) and its organisers want it to enable more people to become more involved in mountain biking in whichever way suits them, from riding and supporting, to volunteering or being a festival sponsor.

Council contractors and officers are responding urgently to an overflow of partially treated wastewater from one of the poo ponds at Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant.

With sunny days forecast and plenty of customers ready and willing to book, tourism businesses say summer is off to a cracking start.

Town and country came together for the 108th time at the Lake Hayes A&P Show on Saturday.

Off-road motorbikes and four-wheel drive vehicles are damaging fragile terrain and threatening native bird life around historic Macetown, Skippers township and the Chinamans Flat.

Queenstown Lakes / Central Otago housing market reached an unprecedented high in December, with the highest average asking price for any region of $1,590,855.

Australian Stock Exchange-listed company Santana Minerals is telling its investors, swathes of high-grade gold could rest beneath the remote farmland between the Bendigo and Dunstan Ranges in Central Otago.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) will close Mount Iron Reserve between noon-6am for the next three days due to extreme risk of wildfire.

2023 was New Zealand's second hottest year on record and among the cloudiest, NIWA has announced today.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has implemented water restrictions in several locations around the district, and is asking the community to conserve water as much as possible.

Waning immunity and complacency have contributed to the fifth wave of Covid-19 in Aotearoa, an epidemiologist is warning.

Organisers of grassroots environmental projects across Central Otago can apply for funding from a massive $900,000 pot this year.