Statement Trees and Edgar Landscaping are two gardening businesses hoping to grow their profile within the Ōamaru community.Statement Trees is a business that keeps growing and shooting off in different directions, just like the plants it sells.Now the nursery, with its roots 7km south of Ōamaru on State Highway 1, has branched out to the town's main street with a September pop-up shop.“We started wholesale and then realised there's huge demand in North Otago for nurseries, and we needed to start marketing,” Diane Lee, who owns the business with her husband Trevor, says.Edgar Landscaping has been operating in Ōamaru for three years - and is owned by Shelley and Michael “Ed” Edgar. Ed has more than 15 years’ landscaping experience, and the couple started the business after moving south from Auckland with their two children, to be closer to family.   They have joined Statement Trees in the pop-up shop and both businesses hope to raise awareness around the services they can offer, and to connect with the local community.The shop is in the former Health 2000 premises between Paper Plus and the Badger & Mackerel on Thames Street.Diane says the feedback from the public so far has been great.Diane and Trevor Lee at Statement Trees, near Totara. Photo: Supplied"People just popping in saying it looks fabulous and offering support. So that's been really nice," she says.The shop is part of the Waitaki District Council-driven Revitalise Our Places Ōamaru (Ropō) initiative, where the council acts as broker between landlords of empty Thames Street premises, and business owners, to make the town centre more vibrant.Statement Trees has a selection of more mature trees, hence the name, and Trevor specialises in cloud pruning, for a point of difference.“So it's in the Bonsai family cloud pruning, and it just means you are not restricting the roots, so it grows. So it's normal size, but you manipulate it,” Diane says. A small selection of handmade outdoor furniture crafted by Kakanui man Lindsay Murray is also in store.Trevor and Diane have been in business 10 years this year, and began by selling the large-grade trees wholesale.Another nursery business which closed led them to wholesaling natives in one-litre containers, which is now their “bread and butter”, as they supply bulk lots to mostly Mitre 10 stores, from Christchurch to Central Otago, she says.Shelley says she and Ed decided to be part of the pop-up so they could showcase past projects, and give people ideas of what they could do in their gardens. Ed offers a range of services which range from restoring and installing lawns, to large-scale native planting jobs, and anything in between. He also works with a qualified builder, so outdoor construction such as stairs.His dream job would be to be presented with a blank canvas of bare land, he says.“It's not like one particular thing, it's more like the total. If someone came to me and goes, ‘every square inch I want it polished to perfection, here's $250,000’ - that's what I like doing.”The pop-up shop is open weekdays from 10am to 4pm, and on some Saturdays Trevor will be in the store to answer questions.Some of the plants and trees at Statement Trees.

You can imagine - or recall - the boasting in the school playground."How many Weet-Bix can you eat?" one teenage boy asks his mates. "I ate six in one go yesterday.""I ate eight the other day.""Well, I ate 11 after rugby training.""Yeah, right."Actually, 11 Weet-Bix isn't so crazy for a teenage boy. They total 583 calories, plus some more for milk, and that's only 25 percent of the 2800 calories a 16-year-old teenage boy might need everyday.Yes, most teenage boys really do need to eat a lot of food - and that amount is significantly more than the energy requirements of a teenage girl."The reason that the energy requirements are lower for girls is that they've got smaller bodies essentially. Their weight and height differs from boys, " Professor Carol Wham from the NZ Nutrition Foundation says.Teenage boys are busy being active with sport and play. They're also growing their skeletons and putting on muscle mass, particularly towards their late teenage years when their height growth starts to slow, according to Rachel Scrivin, a sports dietitian who has three teenage boys aged 15, 16 and 19."It's not uncommon for them to come home and have two packets of noodles and a milkshake and still eat dinner," she says.As a dietitian, she isn't too happy about her kids eating a lot of instant noodles, but it's a snack that is balanced with wholefoods elsewhere.Calorie needs: Teen boys vs teen girlsWhile not everyone will identify with the binary of boy or girl, this is the dividing line that scientific research makes, even though ultimately everyone will have unique needs. A GP will help you with those individual needs.Typically, the daily calorie needs of girls is stable at about 2000 from age 12 to 18. However, for boys their calorie requirements increase from 2200 at age 12 to 2800 by age 16.But those calories are general. An individual teen boy's calorie needs will be a complex calculation determined by their activity level and if they are in the midst of a growth spurt.National guidelines put recommended activity at about an hour of moderate activity four days a week (like walking to school) and strenuous activity (as in sweating and elevated heart rate) three times a week for an hour. Those involved in sport will do much more.Rachel Scrivin. Photo: supplied"Swimmers do a lot of training," Scrivin says. "So they could be doing another two hours a day."Scrivin's teens are playing a sport some mornings and most afternoons after school so their daily calorie needs easily hit 3000, she says. One son is trying to build muscle and is aiming for 3200 daily calories, but bulking up is difficult when a teenage boy is still growing.What macronutrients do they need?Macronutrients are the fats, proteins and carbohydrates that make up our daily caloric intake and the recommended guidelines are similar across sexes and age groups, Wham says."Half of your total energy is coming from carbohydrates, preferably whole grains, and about a maximum of 35 percent from fat and around 15 percent from protein."Scrivin has found the protein needs of her boys to be much higher than the recommendation. Generally, males need about one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight. Her teenage boys are eating 1.5 to 2 grams per kilo of body weight."So, almost double the recommendations," Scrivin says.What does a teen boy eat in one day?For breakfast, Scrivin's youngest is at about eight Weet-Bix with a heap of yogurt and some fruit. Toast with an egg or peanut butter is another carb and protein combo.Lunch could be something like canned tuna or a peanut butter sandwich for a mix of carbs and protein. Scrivin encourages nuts and fruit for a snack at school and a smoothie when they get home in the afternoons (and there's those instant noodles for extra hungry days).Dinner will likely have a pasta or rice base with veggie-stuffed sauce (think blitzed celery in almost everything) and a protein like chicken or beef mince.With the cost of living constantly going up, Wham and Scrivin both recommend extending meals like bolognese sauce with legumes."It's delicious and you're adding plant-based protein," Wham says.Bread is surprisingly a major source of protein in the New Zealand diet. Wholegrain is always preferred but "if people can't afford those whole grains then white bread is okay", Wham says.Government guidelines recommend five servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit every day, two servings of protein (or three servings of plant-based protein if a teen is vegetarian), three servings of milk products and at least seven servings of breads and cereals.When is a lot of food too much?"Most boys gain about 20 kilograms in the four years of high school," Scrivin says. "That's absolutely normal."And, allowances need to be made for genetics. Some families have larger frames than others.However, ultimately someone who is eating too much at any age will likely put on body fat."The energy will go into growing first and then any excess will be stored just like [adults]," Scrivin says.

Waitaki people are being urged to talk about their experiences with healthcare in the district, to help shape what it looks like in the future.Te Wakai Hauora O Waitaki - Waitaki Health Futures Project was launched last year and is a partnership between several key groups to improve coordination and access to health and wellbeing services for Waitaki people.There is a hope it will also help overcome some of the challenges and inequity of outcomes that some rural communities experience, remove some of the barriers to services, and relieve pressure on hospitals, Health New Zealand (HNZ) Community Integration group manager Aroha Metcalf says.Waitaki residents are being asked to fill in a brief questionnaire to gauge their satisfaction from their dealings with different publicly funded healthcare services.Metcalf says the project aims to ensure services in the Waitaki district work together to provide comprehensive local healthcare, and is part of a “place-based planning approach”, which is happening across the country.“We do need to ensure that future health service provision is clinically and financially sustainable,” Aroha says.While there is no talk of extra Government funding being made available, Aroha says the survey offers an opportunity to see whether current resources can be used better.“We have an opportunity . . . to change how we do things, based on feedback from the community, local clinicians, service providers, and data on health needs and use of existing services.“We want to know how people use these services and what they like and don’t like about them,” she says.Health New Zealand Community Integration group manager Aroha Metcalf. Photo:Supplied/FacebookOne example is the potential for opportunities to reduce travel for access to specialist care, through technology such as online consultations, to improve convenience. “Better coordination of services will improve clinical sustainability by allowing the health system to respond more flexibly to unplanned shortages caused by sickness or other unforeseen circumstances,” Aroha saysThe Waitaki Health Futures Project is a partnership between the Waitaki District Council, Te Rūnanga o Moeraki, and Health New Zealand.Other key partners include Ōamaru Hospital; providers Te Hā o Maru (a health and social service owned wholly by Te Runānga o Moeraki) and the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group (OPICG); the WellSouth primary health network; and the Stronger Waitaki coalition.Metcalf says the smooth transition of Ōamaru Hospital management to HNZ earlier this year – which occurred separately to the Health Futures project – was an example of health services and local partners working together to undertake significant change with no disruption for patients or staff.“Oamaru Hospital is an important part of the healthcare network in the Waitaki District and has an important role to play in the wellbeing of the community.”Waitaki District Council councillor Tim Blackler says it has been a long-term ambition of both the council and HNZ to address barriers to access and improve service coordination in Waitaki. “By taking part in this survey, the community can have an important role in shaping the future of services in the district,” he says.Te Rūnanga o Moeraki representative Trevor McGlinchey “really encourages whānau Māori to fill in the surveys and participate in the community engagement meetings”.“To ensure any changes in services meet whānau needs,” he says.A review of Waitaki health services is necessary to ensure current services meet the needs of the changing population, Aroha says.“For example, Ōamaru is one of the fastest growing Pacific populations per capita outside Auckland.”Community engagement sessions are being held in Kurow, Palmerston, Ōamaru and Hampden, and the survey is open online until October 6 (paper copies are also available), allowing project partners to listen and respond to local knowledge from the community, whānau, and service providers about what works well and what doesn’t.It’s expected the new healthcare model will be implemented in stages from early 2025. 

Teenagers might find a way around new restricted Instagram accounts, but it's important the company is trying, a social media consultant says.Meta announced on Wednesday designated Instagram accounts would move automatically to "Teen Accounts", which will be private accounts by default.Users of such accounts can only be messaged and tagged by accounts they follow or are already connected to, while sensitive content settings will be dialled to the most restrictive available.Users under 16 can change the default settings only with a parent's permission. Parents will also get a suite of settings to monitor who their children are engaging with and limit their use of the app.Social media and digital communication consultant Anna Rawhiti-Connell told Morning Report the moves showed Meta was starting to feel the pressure of research and governments."Kids will find ways around things we know that, we don't know whether or not restrictive bans work but kids aren't meant to vape, smoke or drink and we regulate those things so I think it's worth trying."Some things will work and some things won't."The critical component was parents talking to their children, she said."I think parents do need to be probably more engaged on what their kids are doing on social media."The changes wouldn't resolve the "rabbit hole" nature created by social media algorithms, Rawhiti-Connell said."It's very opaque, people don't understand really how any of the social media company algorithms work and particularly in the short vertical video environment, they can be tripped really quickly."Several studies have linked social media use to higher levels of depression, anxiety and learning disabilities, particularly in young users.Meta said it will place the identified users into teen accounts within 60 days in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and in the European Union later this year. Teens around the world will start to get teen accounts in January.Australia is considering setting a minimum legal age for children to use all social media.

The Otago Regional Council is holding a public, extraordinary meeting this Friday (20 September) relating to its "cornerstone" proposed Land and Water Regional Plan.ORC chief executive Richard Saunders said in a statement the meeting will begin at 2pm in Dunedin and be live-streamed, with two short papers up for discussion.There will be a report to councillors on a meeting held with Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Forestry and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay in Wellington last week.The other discussion will centre around investigating options for future government support on land and water regional plan matters, Mr Saunders said in a statement.Friday’s meeting has been arranged under appropriate standing orders following a request received from councillor Kevin Malcolm and signed by councillors Kate Wilson, Andrew Noone, Michael Laws and Gary Kelliher.The council is due to decide on 23 October whether to go ahead and publicly notify its proposed Land and Water Regional Plan that month or consider pausing its progress.The agenda for the meeting will be on the ORC website from Wednesday afternoon. Staff can not comment further on the agenda until councillors have had the opportunity to meet and discuss it.The meeting will be held at ORC Council Chamber Level 2, Philip Laing House 144 Rattray St.A livestream link will be within the agenda on the website.

James, the retelling of the story of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim the slave, and a spy novel about eco-anarchists are probably the frontrunners for the Booker Prize after the judges announced an unusual and surprising shortlist.For the first time in its 55 years, the award has five of its six shortlisted books written by women. It is now five years since a female novelist won the Booker despite one of the judges, Sara Collins, saying that much publishing is dominated by women.The shortlist, announced Tuesday morning, could also be one of the most entertaining for some years.The judges - chaired by Edmund de Waal, probably best known for his memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes - put together a longlist of 13 novels made up of some of the heavyweight books of 2024, and a mix of less recognised books often concerned with huge themes. For the shortlist, out went many of the heavyweights.Gone were My Friends by Hisham Matar, winner of the Orwell prize for political fiction, Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, the Native American Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud and Enlightenment by Sarah Perry, author of much-acclaimed The Essex Serpent.In their place was a shortlist that was probably more interesting.One of the oddities of the Booker literary prize is that it does attract betting. Even before the shortlist was announced, one brave early bookie was offering odds with James by Percival Everett the favourite by a mile. The odds have since disappeared as bookmakers, critics and readers digest the new mix.Everett probably remains the favourite. He has been nominated before, in 2022 for The Trees; his novel Telephone was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. After a long career writing, he is having his moment. His novel Erasure was made into a film, American Fiction, and his funny novel Dr No about a mathematician meeting a Bond villain picked up awards and nominations. At the same time, Booker juries have been partial to stories with important themes, and race is at the heart of Everett's novel.But recently critics have been putting a lot of weight behind Rachel Kushner's Creation Lake, a kind of modern noir spy thriller. A 34-year-old secret agent infiltrates a commune of eco-anarchists in France to disrupt their activities and then is disrupted herself. It's fun and cool. Kushner, too, is a previous Booker finalist (for The Mars Room) and like Everett is both upending novel genres and dealing in modern issues, with humour.It's possible that Kushner and Everett will be like the "two Pauls" of the 2023 prize, with fans often split between Paul Murray's The Bee Sting and the eventual winner Paul Lynch's Prophet Song.If there is a third likely contender it is probably the Canadian poet Anne Michaels. She is back on the shortlist for the dreamlike and poetic Held. Michaels won the Orange Prize for Fiction 27 years ago for Fugitive Pieces, which the BBC named as one of its 100 novels that shaped our world.Among the other nominees is Samantha Harvey, whose Orbital is a tiny, beautiful novel of 24 hours on a space station as the astronauts watch 16 sunrises and sunsets and fall in love - again and again - with our planet.Australia is represented by Charlotte Wood for Stone Yard Devotional, about a woman checking into a monastery in the outback as the world faces a climate catastrophe. The judges said that contemporary issues like climate change and Covid-19 can sometimes feel stale in fiction, but not here.Yael van der Wouden is the first Dutch author to be shortlisted for the Booker - and her debut The Safekeep follows a lonely young woman whose life is overturned by an unlikely romance set in a Netherlands still grappling with Nazi-era atrocities.While it is easy to dismiss literary prizes as an odd way to compare novels, there is no doubt millions of readers use the Booker as a signpost to what is worth reading among a deluge of books each year. It is open to novels from any country, as long as they are published in the UK and Ireland. Recently the prize has been more international, with winners from the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the US.And it can do wonders for a novelist. The winner gets a 50,000 pound ($NZ106,000) award and a huge jump in sales. Bernadine Everaristo (Girl, Woman, Other) doubled her lifetime sales in one week after sharing the 2019 prize with Margaret Atwood. Last year's winner Prophet Song by Paul Lynch saw a 1500 percent increase in sales the week after it won.The winner will be announced in London on 12 November.It is hard, as you would expect, to find common threads among the six books - though there is one characteristic which could make 2024 more accessible to busy readers. They are all fairly short. It is probably the shortest of shortlists. There is nothing like last year's rollicking, entertaining but huge The Bee Sting.Panel chair de Waal tried to find common ground by saying of the novels: "The fault lines of our times are here," though he also said they are not "books about issues".But perhaps more pertinently he went on to say at the launch of the shortlist, that "they are books that made us want to keep on reading, to ring up friends and tell them about them.".And that may well be the best recommendation for a Booker shortlist.

After a successful inaugural event last year, helibiking fundraiser Glencoe Gravity is back.The fundraiser for the Maheno Home and School and the Ovarian Cancer Foundation NZ is taking place on November 2, and is perfect for those mountain bikers who dread the up-hill slog usually necessary to experience the thrill of the downhill.Event manager Sven Thelning says last year's event was a good first run, and they are hoping to build on numbers this year.“Last year went perfectly. We had a perfect blue-sky day, and we had 65 riders, which was pretty good for the first attempt, and everything just went like clockwork,” Sven says.A rider setting off at the top of Mt Miserable. Photo: SuppliedCentral South Island Helicopters was kept busy throughout the day, with two choppers transporting people and bikes up Mt Miserable, so they could make their way down the 15km Glencoe Run. The track weaves through tussocky mountains, high country farmland and finishes through the Herbert Forest mountain biking trails.Ticket numbers available are reliant on the number of flights able to take place in the timeframe between 8am and 4pm, and there are also vans operating for a more budget-conscious biker to spend the day enjoying the forest trails.The event is restricted to riders aged 10 and up, and riding is mostly easy to intermediate - although riders can choose more advanced trails when they reach the Herbert Forest.Like last year, part of the ride is through the farmland of Grant and Ele Ludemann, whose daughter Jane was diagnosed with low-grade serous ovarian cancer in 2017, aged 32.Jane began the charity Cure Our Ovarian Cancer (recently renamed Low Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Initiative)Since its inception, the charity has raised more than $500,000 for LGSOC research across five countries.More information and tickets for the Glencoe Gravity are available online.Two helicopters will operate on the day. One transporting bikes, and one transporting people. Photo: Supplied

Nurses say there is no back-filling for staff on leave in many casesServices must apply to replace staff who leaveNurses say some positions are "ghosted"Safe staffing levels is a key focus of collective contract negotiations for the Nurses OrganisationHealth NZ says decisions made at a local level as to which roles should be prioritisedNurses working in chronically short-staffed hospitals say staff who go on leave, get sick or quit are not being replaced in many cases.Health New Zealand insists recruitment has continued while it has been revising its budgets to find millions of dollars in savings - but front-line workers say job ads and even verbal offers have been "ghosted'.Waikato Hospital emergency nurse Tracy Chrisholm said some patients were waiting 20 hours or more to be seen."In the last two to three years I can't remember coming in for a shift where we've had no-one at six hours plus."There were simply not enough nurses, doctors or allied staff, she said."We have multiple people on maternity leave, we've had multiple resignations that haven't been signed off to be advertised and re-employed or covered because we're above our budget."Chisholm - who is also a delegate with the Nurses Organisation - said Waikato ED should have an extra 40 full-time nurses on top of its budgeted allocation of about 117, according to calculations based on real-time patient numbers and workload.At the start of the year, hospital managers agreed, and allowed the department to recruit "ahead of budget".But that came to an abrupt end in July, when Health Minister Shane Reti replaced Te Whatu Ora's national board with a commissioner, Dr Lester Levy, and charged him with finding $1.4b billion dollars in annual savings.At the time, Health NZ chief executive Margie Apa publicly attributed its $130m a month "over-spend" to being "ahead of budget" on nursing recruitment.Chisholm said many wards had gaps in the roster every day, but the real shortfall was much worse than the official figures showed."We could probably say there are between 20 and 30 ghosted positions," she said."They like to say there's a delay in advertising or a delay in the approval process or we're 'over budget' so we need to pause for a moment."At one point, every new appointment had to be signed off at national level, but then recruitment was devolved to a regional panel with a set allocation for each workforce, and clinical leaders forced to "prioritise".RNZ has seen documents for Wairarapa Hospital showing that in June, there were requests for 19 full-time staff in nursing, but only six positions allocated.Wairarapa nurse Amber Cox, another union delegate, said the hospital officially had 1.5 full-time equivalent nursing vacancies on 30 June - but staff calculated the real shortage was about 40.Whenever anyone left, the department had to get permission to apply to have them replaced."[They say] you don't have enough money to fund that nurse because you've already spent your budget - even though it was under-budgeted in the first place."So we can't allow you to appoint to that position, therefore that position doesn't exist."You get this impression they're trying to retract or shrink the nursing workforce."And they look like they're fully staffed, because they've just 'ghosted' the FTE."It's just poof, vanished into thin air."Cox said she knew nurses who had received verbal offers only to be told the job was no longer available, and had colleagues trying to arrange interviews for roles that were suddenly pulled."I've been a nurse for 26 years and I've worked in Australia and the UK and New Zealand, and I've never known it to be as bad as it is right now."Christchurch Hospital delegate Al Dietschin said where recruitment was happening, it was being "drip-fed"."When people resign and leave, they're not being replaced."Many roles that were being advertised on Te Whatu Ora's website a few months ago were quietly taken down, he said."They haven't actually been recruited, they've just essentially disappeared."A registered midwife, whom RNZ agreed not to name, said she had been given orientation documents and told to expect a contract the next week when Te Whatu Ora unexpectedly denied approval for the position."Despite severe short staffing there are no jobs advertised in this area."My colleagues who work there report having to continually do overtime to make up staff shortages, and unsafe staffing levels."This is occurring on maternity wards nation-wide."According to Health NZ's workforce plan released last year, the country currently needs more than 1000 midwives.While the nursing workforce has grown by 50 percent since 2000 (to just under 70,000) Te Whatu Ora estimated the shortfall was 4800, with 8000 more needed by 2032.According to Health NZ, 619 nurses received and accepted offers of employment in June and July.Chief people officer Andrew Slater said clinical recruitment had continued while budgets were being "finalised"."Hospital managers and clinical leads are still recruiting for frontline roles, particularly where they need to replace staff."Decisions are made at a local level as to which roles should be prioritised."Ensuring the system had enough doctors, nurses and allied health professionals on the front-line remained "a top priority", he said."Health New Zealand is undergoing a reset to ensure we live within our budget and deliver easier and faster access to healthcare for New Zealanders."

Southerly outbreaks have kept snow seekers in the far south happy over the past several days and MetService is forecasting more snow to kick off this week as cold air sweeps up the country. Several regions are at risk of seeing thunderstorms today (Monday) and on Tuesday, with hail and gusty winds potentially accompanying heavy showers. More fast-moving rain bands are forecast through the second half of the working week.Another Heavy Snow Watch has been issued for areas south of Queenstown from this evening until Tuesday morning. However, this time around the cold air and snow potential spreads up to the North Island as well. This relatively widespread risk of snow has meant our Severe Weather team has issued Road Snowfall Warnings across all the roads we cover. So, if you’re driving over one of the higher roads before Wednesday, check our Warnings page to see if snow is forecast.MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris says the cold air moving up the South Island will bring another top up of snow but also hazardous driving conditions on Tuesday. Frosts will also be back on the cards Tuesday morning but more widespread on Wednesday morning. Queenstown has a forecast high of just 6°C on Tuesday but most places rebound back to average temperatures on Wednesday.Generally, we see a slight easing in the nation’s weather on Wednesday but it’s a brief respite as more persistent rain falls on the west coast of the South Island on Thursday. Friday brings yet another band of rain across the country from the west.

MetService has issued a raft of Road Snowfall Warnings for Southern passes during Monday night and into Tuesday morning, including the Dunedin to Waitati Highway (SH1) and the Lindis Pass.Dunedin to Waitati Highway (SH1)Valid: 13 hours from 8pm Monday (16 September) to 9am Tuesday (17 September).Forecast: Snow expected overnight. 1 to 2 cm possibly accumulating about the summit of the road.Lindis Pass (SH8)Valid: 7 hours from 9pm Monday (16 September) to 4am Tuesday (17 September)Forecast: 1 to 2 cm may accumulate above 500 metres with lesser amounts lower down.People are advised to stay up to date with the latest forecasts.Disclaimer: These warnings provide information regarding expected weather conditions. They contain no information about current road conditions or about the amount of snow currently lying on any road.

Whether you are a regular camper at one of the Waitaki Lakes campgrounds, or this is your first summer nabbing a site, there are a few rules everybody needs to be aware of.The Waitaki District Council offers six Kiwi-style camping grounds in the lakes area - at Boat Harbour, Falstone Creek, Loch Laird, Parsons Rock, Sailors Cutting and Wildlife Reserve.The grounds are sunny and sheltered with easy access to the lakes, rivers, local townships (Kurow, Otematata, Omarama and Twizel), a golf course, playgrounds, and walking and cycling tracks.With the campgrounds opening this Saturday (21 September), the council wants to remind all potential campers of things they need to know before heading up the valley, a statement says.• First of all - a ticket is required to get in. Full and half-season tickets can be purchased from council offices in Ōamaru, at Kurow Autos, or Otematata On the Spot. Other ways to pay, and an application form, can be found at Waitaki Lakes camping/Waitaki District Council.• Sites are first in, first served - if you’ve got a spot in mind, be prepared this weekend. Camp-sites are not to be larger than 60m2, and at least 10m away from the lakefront.• Park in the Loch Laird top paddock this Friday, not on the road. Don’t start your camping season off by getting a ticket or a telling-off.• When camping, be a good neighbour - keep the noise down between 10pm and 7am, leave the motorbike at home, keep your dog on a lead, slow down when driving in the campsite, and keep fires on the camp-stove. If you have a problem, contact the camp supervisor.Falstone Creek campsite. Photo: Supplied/Waitaki District Council

The hoiho has been named the 2024 Bird of the Year.Hoiho surged into first place in the second week of the competition, finishing with 6,328 votes, after initially trailing the karure Chatham Island black robin, organisers said. The karure came in second and the kākāpō third.The results of the competition, which attracted more than 52,000 verified votes, were announced on Morning Report on Monday.Ellen Rykers from Forest & Bird, which runs the competition, said the nationally-endangered bird is the largest penguin found on the mainland, is said nationally endangered ."The mainland population in particular has declined substantially by about 78 percent in the last 15 years," she told Morning Report.It's the hoiho's second time in the winner's spot, having become the first seabird to be named Bird of the Year in 2019.Hoiho chicks are threatened by introduced predators like cats, stoats and ferrets that can wipe out an entire breeding site in a single season, Forest & Bird says. Photo: Supplied / Craig McKenzieThe hoiho attracted high-profile endorsements, including from conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, former prime minister Helen Clark and Labour leader Chris Hipkins.Its campaign was backed by Ōtepoti Dunedin locals, and supporters included the Highlanders rugby team, and Emerson's Brewery which crafted a special pale ale in honour of the "people's penguin".The hoiho / yellow-eyed penguin. Photo: Supplied / Kimberley CollinsIt is thought to be the world's rarest penguin species, according to Forest & Bird, and found along the east coast of the South Island, on Rakiura Stewart Island, and the Auckland and Campbell Islands."This spotlight couldn't have come at a better time," Forest & Bird chief executive Nicola Toki said. The penguins were vulnerable to predators and dog attacks, and at risk of being caught in set nets at sea, she said.Its te reo Māori name, hoiho, means 'noise shouter', though it is notoriously shy despite its loud, shrill call.The karure Chatham Island black robin population once numbered just five. Now there are about 250 birds, all descended from the last breeding pair, Old Blue and Old Yellow. Photo: DoCRykers earlier said the competition was a chance to celebrate Aotearoa's "amazing" native birds."It's also an opportunity to highlight that more than 80 percent of them are in trouble, or serious trouble, and they really need our help."Rykers said this year's competition had more of a homegrown feel, after a campaign by United States talk show host John Oliver in 2023 led to a landslide victory for the pūteketeke (Australasian crested grebe)."We have seen some amazing support from some New Zealand celebrities this year. So Sam Neill just endorsed the pukunui - the southern NZ dotterel - and .. Paddy Gower's just supported the Adélie penguin."Voters were able to cast their ballots for up to five birds on the online poll, from a selection of 74 "candidates".The top 10 votes:Hoiho yellow-eyed penguin (6,328)Karure Chatham Island black robin (5,442)Kākāpō (4,548)Ruru morepork (4,467)Kea (4,206)Pīwakawaka fantail (4,205)Takahē (3,892)Tawaki piki toka eastern rockhopper penguin (3,834)Kōkako (3,445)Toroa Antipodean albatross (3,415)

The dream has been made a reality, and Waitaki now has its own disc golf course.The nine-hole course has been a community effort, spearheaded by the Ōamaru Rotary Club, with hundreds if not thousands of volunteer hours going into the project.One of the Rotarians behind the project, Sven Thelning, says the idea of the course had been around for some time, and after he had a discussion with K South director Kerry Robb over a beer, the pair decided to make it happen.“With help from Matthew Lanyon of Waitaki District Council, the Weston Park site was identified as the best site and planning got underway for a high-quality, nine-hole course,” Sven says. “The course utilises the back paddock of the reserve which is currently used as a paddock for grazing sheep but has pleasant amenity planting, perfect for disc golf.” Retired Apex engineer and fellow Rotarian Mark Hay has built the nine baskets to official standards in his spare time. “As these things often are, it was possibly more work than anticipated but all targets are now complete and ready to install,” Sven says. It has very much been a community project, and the majority of the work has happened during the quieter winter months, with a view to being operational by the summer. The course, which has been designed with professional input from an expert in Auckland, will be officially opened on Sunday (15 September) by Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher.The layout for Weston's new 9-hole disc golf course. Photo: supplied “K South organised a team of builders and Rotarians to install the boxing and subsurface of the tee pads early last month ready for Whitestone Contracting to lay asphalt in time for the grand opening,” Sven says. “Assistance building tee boxes was given by Waitaki Boys' High School teacher Josh Ratcliffe who has a team of boys currently travelling to Waimate to play.”Disc golf is a sport in which players throw a disc (similar to a frisbee) at a target basket. It is played using rules similar to golf. The sport is usually played on a course with 9 or 18 holes.Funding for the course came primarily from Rotary's district grants, Sport Waitaki and K South, with the remainder coming from other business and individual donors who each funded a target.Before this, there were 14 disc golf courses in Otago, but the closest to Ōamaru were in Waimate, where there is an 18-hole and a 9-hole course.The course is now registered on the U Disc app where there is a map of the course and scores can be recorded once it is open. Designing and building the course to official standards meant it could be used for competitions. Martyns Cycles stock a large range of discs and information on how to play, Sven says.Official rules are on the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) website.A close up of one of the baskets made by Mark Hay. Photo: supplied

Avoid travel today around the lower half of the South Island if possible, the NZTA warns.Given the volume of snow in Otago, people should postpone travel or expect delays, as New Zealand Transport Authority/Waka Kotahi roading crews work to clear the highways, a statement says.“We appreciate your patience and encourage you to drive to the conditions, given this polar blast.”They also encourage people to reconsider weekend travel, given further areas and highways maybe affected over the next few days as the system moves up and across the country. SH80 to Mt Cook/Aoraki closedSnow has closed SH80, the only access into Mt Cook/Aoraki this morning.The next update will be around 5pm or earlier if snow stops. People should be ready to stay where they are today in the meantime in this part of South Canterbury, says NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).Open but snow and ice warnings remain:In Otago, SH85 Palmerston to Kyeburn to Omakau has reopened after snow closed the route early today. Drivers need to take care on the icy roads. SH87 Mosgiel to Middlemarch and Kyeburn is open but drivers need to drive to the snowy and icy conditions. Arthur’s Pass, Porters Pass, SH73, also Lindis and Burkes Passes, SH8Snow is forecast for the Arthur’s Pass route this afternoon so drivers need to check before heading out and be prepared with chains and warm clothes. (There are currently delays between Otira and Arthur’s Pass as rockfall prevention work continues, with delays up to an hour between 9 am and 5 pm today). South Canterbury passes are also likely to be affected by snow, so drivers need to be prepared, avoid travel if possible or take SH1 the coastal route alternative if in doubt. Elsewhere in the South Island/Te Wai Pounamu:The Haast Pass route, SH6, linking the West Coast to Otago between Haast township and Makarora, remains closed due to heavy snow (see photo below). SH94 the Milford Sound Piopiotahi highway is closed while crews pre-emptively set off avalanches near the Homer Tunnel and then clear snow to make the route safe when it reopens. It could be re-open around midday so check the traffic page.Check the NZTA traffic map for latest updates 

Calls to ban children under 16 from social media are a distraction from the real issues facing young people on the platforms, according to Netsafe.The Australian prime minister is vowing to get kids off their devices and on to the footy field by introducing a minimum social media age of 16.His New Zealand counterpart has said he is "up for looking" at the issue. But Netsafe CEO Brent Carey believes a ban would just push any problems underground."Young people are missing from the conversation, and this is largely the online spaces," he told RNZ's Checkpoint on Thursday."We leave our young people at the age of 14 to babysit other people, or they can be left on their own by their parents, but we won't be able to let them have Snapchat with their friends? It just doesn't sort of ring true with how we treat young adults."The government earlier this year banned students from using cellphones in schools. Carey said students got around it by accessing social media on other devices, such as desktop computers, driving unwanted behaviours "underground"."And also, a lot of young people rely on their social media spaces to get support, and if you are from the marginalised or vulnerable community, that is really important - and so access to mental health services they might suffer as well, as a result of the ban."He said the real issue was digital literacy: "Looking at our curriculum, bringing in that technology curriculum and making people think critically about their spaces and places that they are engaging in.""And also, that it is really about the behaviours - what do we want to see our young people display when they are interacting with one another? And that is why at sort of age 14, it is really easier to have those conversations as a parent than perhaps with a 16-year-old who might think that they know everything - more than their parents."He said previous Netsafe research - specifically on body image - showed youngsters were "overwhelmingly still positive about online spaces"."They want to demand more accountability from the platforms, but generally they are finding the peer support that they need. And so I think it is important for parents to also get on the platforms and understand which ones the young people are on."Snapchat is really young, it is 13 to 24 and a lot of parents might not be on that. So it's learning alongside the young person around what spaces they are in."Australian and New Zealand Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Angus DreaverAs for interacting with older people, Carey said caregivers should utilise parental controls and make sure their children were aware of tools like blocking people."It's important that [parents] are monitoring what the young person is doing..It's all part of the conversation piece that needs to happen between parents and their young person."Carey said the platforms themselves however needed to do more to make sure their content was age-appropriate.Most platforms required people to be at least 13 but Carey said that was not always enforced, another reason parents should keep up with what their children were doing online."Kids under 13 will get kicked off those platforms if they are not age appropriate - so there's often times where they are blocked or banned or refused."The main thing is that you know, you are having these conversations about when it is appropriate for them to be on a platform."Labour leader Chris Hipkins was also interested in a social media ban."I'm really interested in seeing what the Aussies are doing, I'm open to backing that, I want to see evidence first," he told Morning Report.

The weekend is looking cold and wet throughout Waitaki - take care out there.Love that Waitaki Valley Thunder Rally is undaunted. Apparently there's been light snow in Kurow but they reckon "toughen up". Huge mar marquee, heaters fire drums all at Waitaki Valley Thunder Rally on Friday Sept 13 until 15th. Get in.Tonight in Oamaru (Friday) check out Comedy Night Live @ Victoria Lounge on Friday Sept 13 (last check only 2 tickets left so be quick). Alternative comedy check out Comedy Hypnotist at Oamaru Club on Saturday Sept 14.Musically, check out Friday's regular Open Mic & Jam Night @ The Penguin Club - always great. Saturday's Sharing The Song @ Eveline Church looks interesting and Sunday's Renegadze @ Scotts Brewing Co looks like a blast.If you missed last weekend's check out the Chinese Cultural Workshop every Saturday and Sunday ends Sunday Sept 22 at The Station Yuan's.Speaking of Sundays,Totara Estate has The Party Continues!A Salute to Janet Frame's Birthday on Sunday September 15 (booking is best, details on the link)Jae Omnet is running a Spring Sunday Soul Session on Sunday Sept 15th (contact details on the link)Rotary Oamaru is hosting the grand opening of the brand new Weston Disc Golf Course on Sunday Sept 15 (whoop)And check out current Exhibitions happening around town (some very cool options here).-------

Inland farmers with young stock are being warned about the potential for heavy rain and snow over the coming days.MetService is predicting a mix of rain, snow, and occasional sunshine from today (Thursday) through the weekend.Cooler temperatures are set to sweep the country heading towards the weekend and into next week, as a reminder of the changeable nature of spring weather.MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane says rain will make its way north across the South Island, with the heaviest rain expected in the west and lower regions. Orange Heavy Rain Warnings have been issued for Fiordland and southern Westland, while Watches cover the ranges of Westland, Otago lakes and river headwaters, and inland Southland.For tonight (Thursday) and Friday, snow is expected to affect inland South Island areas - forecast for parts of inland Southland, Otago, and Canterbury above 400 metres, with Orange Heavy Snow Warnings in place.Lighter snowfalls are also possible down to 300 metres, Mmathapelo says.“Farmers with young stock could be affected by this snow. Additionally, road users should prepare for possible disruptions, as several Road Snowfall Warnings are currently in place.”With heavy rain followed by snow forecast for Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes Districts overnight tonight, travellers also need to be prepared for the rain and snow on Friday, says NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). “Please be prepared for winter driving conditions overnight tonight and on Friday,” says NZTA Journey Manager Tresca Forrester. “The cold conditions and snow may continue into the weekend. “People may think it is spring now and warming up, but we still need to be prepared for winter driving – carry tyre chains, expect road restrictions or closures, check NZTA’s journey planner before you set off and have blankets and snacks in the car. “Late season snow to road level can occur through to early October in the South Island. In many places, NZTA crews have been applying CMA de-icing compound yesterday and today, with snow ploughs and grit teams ready for the night shift tonight.”Metservice is also predicting another possible round of wet weather and snow for the South Island on Sunday, Mmathepelo says.“It’s one of those weekends where keeping an eye on the forecast is key, especially if you’ve got outdoor plans, as conditions could shift as the weekend approaches,” she says.Next week is expected to bring a shift to fresh southwesterly flow, bringing in a spell of chilly weather across the country. “There may be a renewed risk of snow for elevated parts of New Zealand, while the rest of us might find ourselves reaching for those cosy jumpers,” she says.Snow – Burkes Pass and Lindis Pass, SH8, (Fairlie to Twizel, Omarama to Wānaka – Canterbury into Otago), and Mt Cook/Aoraki highway, SH80Rain is forecast to turn to snow Thursday night. 10-20 cm of snow may accumulate above 500 metres, with lesser amounts down to about 300 metres.Snow - Southland north of Lumsden, and OtagoExpect 15 to 25 cm of snow to settle above 400 metres from 5pm Thursday overnight to 8am Friday, with lesser amounts down to 300 metres. Snow - Crown Range Road between Wānaka and QueenstownRain is forecast to turn to snow Thursday evening after 7pm. Three to eight cm of snow may accumulate above 500 metres, with lesser amounts down to about 400 metres.Snow - Milford Road, SH94Rain is forecast to turn to snow Thursday evening. 1-3 cm may accumulate above about 800 metres.Heavy Snow Orange Warning – Canterbury High Country south of the Rakaia RiverExpect 10 to 20 cm of snow to settle above 400 metres, with lesser amounts down to 300 metres from 3am Friday to 3pm Friday.

The people of Waitaki can have their own small piece of the new Network Waitaki Event Centre, with the latest fundraising project.Event Centre Trust members hope this Friday the 13th will be a lucky one for them, with the launch of the “Purchase a Plaque” initiative, which allows individuals, families and teams or organisations to buy a stainless steel, triangle plaque with their name on it.With the demolition of the original Centennial Park grandstand complete, and construction of the new centre set to begin on September 23, the trust has decided the timing is right for the next fundraiser, trustee Deidre Senior says.This money will be used for everything additional to the building itself - the interior fit out of the facility and the car park.“The building itself can go ahead and that's why the construction is starting on that . . . but obviously you can't just have an empty shell, it needs to be well-equipped and fit for purpose too.”The goal for this is between $4-5 million dollars, she says.Ōamaru business AcuCut has donated material and labour for the plaques, which will come in three different sizes.The smallest will cost $200, medium $500 and large $1000. There will also be a $5000 “diamond” plaque. Each plaque will have the name of the individual or group who paid for it engraved on it, and together they will make up a mountain design.“Collectively, these plaques will then create a larger art installation that reflects our area - our mountain to climb,” she says.A sketch of the mountain design created by AcuCut's Kathryn Swann.AcuCut designer Kathryn Swann is the talent behind the concept, which has six diamonds, 38 large triangles, 183 medium and 412 small, with the goal of raising $250,000.“This art piece will be installed onto a wall in the foyer as a feature - to acknowledge the support of these people, and to celebrate our Waitaki area,” Deidre says.“The triangle shape came about because it's geometrically interesting how they connect with each other . . . The shape is also a representation of Waitaki - two triangles make a W, it has connections to the main sponsor Network Waitaki and their logo, and it also represents the Waitaki Valley and our landscape with the mountains and valleys that connect together,” Deidre says.It was designed to be inclusive, so anyone could contribute. “So a group of people could contribute - put together $200 and still be part of it, or people who wish to, can donate $5,000.”The diamonds are going to be more “bespoke” and AcuCut will work with those donors to put company logos, colours and whatever else they choose, on them. “So those ones will stand out,” Deidre says.It is hoped this will not be the only installation in the centre, but it will be the most prominently positioned, in the foyer.The triangles can be bought online through this form.The plaques will be sold on a first-in, first-served basis.All going to plan, the Network Waitaki Event Centre will open for business in February 2026.

Gondola-like pods hanging under rails and over roads, taxiing travellers around city centres, might sound futuristic, but a Christchurch company says it can beat urban traffic congestion with its Whoosh transport project.Construction is set to start on a pilot in Queenstown next year.Woosh chief executive Dr Chris Allington - from the engineering firm Holmes Solutions - said it had taken five years to develop, and had largely been kept under wraps until now.Using an app, riders would hail or pre-book an autonomous electric vehicle that navigated its own way across an elevated guideway of fixed cables."The whole system works on demand, so you can hop on your app and call a vehicle, when you walk to the station it will be waiting for you, hop into it, it will take you directly to where you want to go without stopping along the way," Allington said.The cabins would fit five people and the service would be cheaper to build than roads or light rail, he said.A computer simulation of how Whoosh would look in a city. Image: RNZ"For most standard networks that we're installing, it's around about $5 million dollars per kilometre and if you compare that to say road construction in the urban space that's around about $20 million per kilometre, and I think when they were looking at light rail it was north of $100 million per kilometre. So it's quite a cost-effective solution."Allington said Whoosh had been funded by a private equity firm in North America.Construction on the world's first Whoosh pilot at Remarkables Park in Queenstown is set to start next year, with hopes it would be up and running by 2027.Allington said this was being funded by a combination of local investors.He hoped it would show other cities the technology was worth bringing in."The system has been designed to fit nicely in the urban environment so we can fit within that tight urban constraint. The cities and the environments we're building in, they're really tight so there's not much room to build more roads and there's definitely no more room on the roads for more cars so you have to think differently. So elevating up above it was the way to go with lightweight infrastructure."AIlington said there was already a lot of overseas interest in Whoosh.An early backer was former Google transportation executive Jeral Poskey, who left his former employer and founded Swyft Cities to become a global licensing partner for Whoosh.He said he had been involved in brokering deals with 18 locations around the world, mostly in the US."About half are cities and half are private real estate owners- where there is a real estate developer, or a ski resort, or it could be an amusement park."They all have a common thread that they are caught up in congestion, they are looking for something new, and they know that nothing else out there is going to solve their problem."Public Transport Users Association national co-ordinator Jon Reeves had his doubts about Whoosh."When I see these sort of things, I am always reminded of the famous Simpsons episode with monorail where they had the monorail that goes nowhere. And it does remind me of that. I'm glad they've got a lot of hype about it, it's probably the perfect thing for a ski resort, or a city with a resort, maybe Rotorua, but for a mass transport system it doesn't cut the mustard."He thought if the gondola cars were dangling above roads, the company should expect pushback from people who owned properties along the route.Reeves said he was sceptical because he had seen the likes of Whoosh before."I think the gondola type or monorail ideas come up every five to 10 years, I've probably seen this about four or five times now. As a public transport method to move large scale numbers to get people out of cars, I don't think this is the right one. It may be cheaper, but it isn't better."