Lindsay Creek, which runs through the heart of Dunedin's North East Valley, brought its community together over the weekend at "Creekfest".

The festival is intended to celebrate the stream and educate people about what lives in the waterway.

The last of five little blue penguins taken into care in Oamaru has finally been released.

The birds were taken to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony's rehabilitation centre a month ago, having been found covered in oil.

It's been an uphill battle, but there's a glimmer of hope in the campaign to restore Baldwin St's world record.

Dunedin surveyor Toby Stoff has returned from a whirlwind trip to Wales, where he visited Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech, which dethroned Baldwin St as the world's steepest street in July.

The deaths of two endangered native parrots from Orokonui Ecosanctuary have been attributed to human error.

Two kaka are believed to have died after ingesting a poison used in killing possums.

Oamaru's annual Victorian Heritage Celebrations started last Thursday and were in full swing over the weekend.

"Wheels" were the theme for this year's celebration of how things were during the reign of Queen Victoria.

The upgraded Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown was officially opened by Health Minister David Clark on Friday.

Consent for the upgrade was granted in June last year and was funded by the Southern District Health Board to the tune of 9.3 million dollars.

However, some of the upgrade's major assets, such as a state-of-the art CT scanner, has to be paid for with local donations and fundraising.

Over 50 University of Otago medical students have had their qualifications withheld, after the tertiary institution found an overseas placement rort is 'much wider' than first believed.

The university says, it first identified the problem with just a handful of students involved, but has subsequently discovered it's a much bigger problem.

Two southern rural fire officers who returned on Thursday from fighting Australian bushfires are describing the devastation as "heartbreaking".

The pair, who spent a week away working up to 14 hours a day, are happy to be back home for some well earned rest.

Two southern rural fire officers who returned on Thursday from fighting Australian bushfires are describing the devastation as "heartbreaking".

The pair, who spent a week away working up to 14 hours a day, are happy to be back home for some well earned rest.

After seven long years, a memorial to those who conscientiously objected to war has been given the green light.

The Archibald Baxter Memorial Trust has now received a $326,639 grant from Lottery Environment and Heritage fund towards a sculpture in north Dunedin.

HMNZS Canterbury arrived in Dunedin on Wednesday, and is embarking on Operation Endurance.

The trip into the southern ocean is set to take them to the Auckland and Campbell Islands, with a contingent of army, navy and airforce personnel.

Over the years there have been many collaborations between poets and painters.

One of the most notable examples being Colin McCahon and Charles Brash, and now two well known southern artists showing that bigger can be better.

Reverend David Brown has been a pillar of support for Dunedin's firefighters for 25 years.

Wednesday saw a special ceremony at being held as thanks for his service as a chaplain for the city's fire crews.

John Swan & Co owner Janette Armstrong is sick of people who urinate, vomit, smash bottles and commit vandalism in her Bath St car park at the back of the Moray Pl shop each weekend.

Not even CCTV cameras and a motion triggered light deter up to 30 people a weekend defiling her car park, many of whom she's caught on camera.

And a warning, this is a story about bodily functions, so viewer discretion is advised.

A ceremony at the Dunedin Southern Cemetery on Tuesday recognised the changes of fortune for an early Dunedin settler, who was once a Polish prince.

The recently restored grave of Polish Prince Alois Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki, who died in 1864, has now been officially consecrated by the Dunedin's Catholic Bishop.