Along with many of the other sections, the children's section seems to have doubled in size from last year.
Friday, 28 November 2008
Massive Booksale
Along with many of the other sections, the children's section seems to have doubled in size from last year.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Manapouri - Power and Protest

Films include excerpts from "The New Zealand Sounds Hydro-Electric Concessions Limited" (1925), "The Twin Lakes" (1963), "Pictorial Parade - Water to Burn" (1965), "Pictorial Parade 2 - the Duke Drops In" (1968), "A Question of Power - the Manapouri Debate" (1980), and "Give it a Whirl" (2006).
Admission is free, and viewings will be held over three nights at Te Anau, Manapouri and Invercargill. See Events listing for places and times.
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Rare Sighting of Common Skink

You may be surprised to know that skinks eat berries and nectar and so planting these kinds of plants in your yard may help give skinks a better chance of survival. They also need places to hide from predators. They need debris, old logs and things to escape into. Wide open paddocks with very short grass or very tidy gardens have created a dire landscape for skinks. So a messy yard isn't a bad thing.
This particular skink may have had a narrow escape from a cat. You can see the line break on his body where his new tail has grown. You can't expect your cat to stop hunting but maybe there is something else you can do.
To make your yard skink-friendly, read these DoC guides. The first is written for the Wellington area but the principles apply anywhere.
Lizards in Your Garden (pdf, 1.5MB)
Skinks and Geckos Factsheet (pdf, 220kb)
Monday, 10 November 2008
Fireworks Extravaganza
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Pilgrimage to Wairio
Election Results
National - 349
Labour - 96
ACT - 18
NZ First - 17
Green - 12
United Future - 9
J A Progressive - 5
Bill and Ben Party - 5
Maori Party - 3
Alliance - 2
Libertarianz - 2
Workers Party - 2
(Informal party votes - 2)
Aotearoa Legalise Cannibis Party - 1
Family - 1
Kiwi - 1
You can see the full results for parties and candidates for Clutha-Southland, Te Tai Tonga and any other electorate by clicking on it from the results page. They are downloadable in .xls format.
Who are Bill and Ben?
Snowy Days
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Tour of Southland II
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Tour of Southland

Today is Stage 3, and the riders will cover 165km from Invercargill to Gore, going through Rimu, Woodlands, Seaward Downs, Edendale, Wyndham, Mataura, Waimumu, West Gore, Mandeville, Riversdale, Otama and Knapdale.
Tomorrow, the cyclists are set to ride through Otautau some time between 9am and 11:25am. This route is 88.4km and starts at the ILT Velodrome, Isabella St, Invercargill and goes through Wallacetown, Waianiwa, Otahuti, Isla Bank, Fairfax, Otautau, Orawia, and ends at Tuatapere. The weather doesn't look good so let's get out and cheer for these brave and crazy riders.
Saturday, 1 November 2008
Otautau Get Together
Some notables were there.
Amongst the crowd were Jean and Harry Laurie who recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in Queenstown.
Two of the organisers. Unfortunately, I didn't catch their names.
A few people brought photo and scrapbook albums. One scrapbook album detailed the history of the Eason family during WWII. The Otautau Museum also provided a selection of old photographs to reminisce on.
Jean Laurie, Thelma McWhirter and Jean Watt. Thick as thieves.
Live entertainment included Lindsay Abbott, Judy Knoops and her son Kip (on guitar), and Colin Miller on keyboards. Colin also did a bit of yodelling for us. Bev Townley also sang but is not pictured.
All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon. Makes me wish that these folks still lived in Otautau. What stories they have to tell.
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