Dunedin's Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust has almost completed building a "climate-safe" house as an example of how to face the future.

Located on land in Waitati, which is already being flooded at times by sea water, the house was created to show how climate change challenges can be met.

After a daring escape, and a quick swim in the Otago Harbour, one adventurous pet turtle has finally made it home.

The aquatic reptile was identified by its owner from a photo in Otago Daily Times, after it was found in the steamer basin two weeks ago.

The first essential services convoy to Milford Sound was cause for celebration, as it passed through the flood damaged highway on Saturday.

Bringing relief to many people working in the Sound, as well as tourism operators.

Thousands of university and polytechnic students have made their annual pilgrimage back to Dunedin for the start of the tertiary year.

And making life easier for them, the Otago University Students Association has built a temporary hub right in the heart of North Dunedin.

Hundreds of pipers and drummers, as well as lovers of all things Scottish, converged on Dunedin at the weekend.

They were in the city for the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band association's annual Octagonal Day on Saturday, and the Otago and Southland competitions on Sunday.

Saturday saw Dunedin's lower Octagon packed with about 30,000 people, sampling foods and crafts at the annual Thieves Alley market.

Now in its 35th year, the event drew stall holders from further afield than ever.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has hit out at the company responsible for storing potentially toxic waste in Mataura.

The township could be stuck with the aluminium smelter dross for at least two years after Rio Tinto vetoed a deal to move about 10,000 tonnes back to the smelter.

The devastating effects of last week’s storm were made clear after a visit to Fiordland by the Civil Defence Minister yesterday.

The minister was in a group of people who flew in to survey the damage..

The proposal by Healthcare NZ to cut staff at their Oamaru facility has drawn the ire of locals.

Several dozen protesters made their feelings known outside the Oamaru office yesterday.

A fascination with retro fixtures has been the starting point for a new art exhibition by a visiting Wellington artist.

Emily Hartley-Skudder has used 70's kitsch to create backdrops to display eight art works recently acquired by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

The pedestrian mall concept was trialled twice with feedback and formal consultation indicating strong support for the change.

..And now the changes have been made, with shiny new bollards blocking vehicles from both ends.

A woman struck by a falling tree branch in Dunedin during a stormy day in January is on the slow road to recovery.

Amy Armstrong is using the power of poetry to help in her recovery from the fractured vertebrae she suffered in the incident.

Smarting from their 42 to 20 loss against the Sharks last Friday, the Pulse Energy Highlanders are looking to learn from their mistakes.

That's according to assistant coach Mark Hammett, whose rugby team is set to face off against the Brumbies in Australia on Saturday.

Americans living in Dunedin are being invited to register to vote in the up-coming US elections.

The Otago Postgraduate Association is running a non-partisan drive to get ex-pat American citizens to take part.

One of Dunedin's leading social service agencies says people are increasingly living in overcrowded houses and struggling to find accommodation in the city.

And the housing crisis is only expected to worsen, as the gap between those who can afford the sky rocketing rental prices and those who can't grows.