Ceramicist Sam Mayell in The Pottery Lounge Queenstown. PHOTO: GUY WILLIAMSA newly-opened ceramics gallery in Queenstown is also offering a novel twist on ‘paint and sip’. Sam Mayell Ceramics and The Pottery Lounge Queenstown, which opened in Earl St early last month, offer customers a two-for-one experience. Choosing from a selection of pottery pieces — cups, bowls, vases and more — they can sip on complimentary snacks and a non-alcoholic drink while spending 60-90 minutes painting their piece, getting inspiration from art books and stencils if required. The pieces are then glazed and fired in a kiln, ready for pick-up the next day.

Luxury lodge Pen-y-bryn has been put on the market by co-owners James Glucksman (pictured) and James Boussy. United States-born couple James Glucksman and James Boussy took over the luxury accommodation lodge in 2010, after moving to Oamaru from China, where Mr Glucksman was working as a health economist. "We’ve completely renovated it," Mr Glucksman said. "We get almost universal positive feedback both for the lodge and for the experience of staying in Oamaru," Mr Glucksman said. We were foreigners coming in, completely cold, and people really, really, really treated us well."

PHOTO: ALLIED MEDIA FILESA $3.69 million boost in government spending on New Zealand tourism campaigns has been welcomed in the Waitaki. "This funding boost is enthusiastically welcomed by Tourism Waitaki," Tourism Waitaki RTO general manager Heather Matthews said. Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said more international visitors will be exploring regional New Zealand this year, thanks to a $3.69 million investment from the second round of the government’s Regional Tourism Boost. The latest round of the Regional Tourism Boost is supporting five new initiatives:■ A $459,000 project will entice Australians from the Gold Coast to explore the lower South Island, delivered by Great South and seven associated Regional Tourism Organisations. "The Southern Way campaign brings together Great South, Tourism Waitaki, Enterprise Dunedin, Clutha Development, Tourism Central Otago, Destination Queenstown and Lake Wanaka Tourism.

The Moeraki commercial poultry farm at the centre of an avian Influenza outbreak in 2024. "This project involves testing mallard ducks for avian influenza. "This includes avian influenza testing of mallard ducks in Otago, amongst other locations." Previous testing of mallard ducks, through the avian influenza surveillance programme, has shown them to be free of avian flu. As a result, HPAI is once again absent from New Zealand," the latest avian influenza surveillance programme annual report states.

The car came to rest in Fosters Creek. Photo: Bill Gordon/suppliedA person has minor injuries after their car crashed on State Highway 6 and wound up in a Southland creek. A police spokeswoman said the crash happened on the Kingston-Garston Highway, near Nevis Rd, and was reported at 9.25am on Friday. A witness said the damaged car ended up in Fosters Creek, about 5km north of Garston. Police said St John ambulance treated the driver for minor injuries.

A slip has narrowly missed a new build home in the Tauranga suburb of Welcome Bay, viewed from Te Auhi Reserve. Multiple landslides can be seen along the hills extending from Welcome Bay down the coast to Pāpāmoa, with dozens of residents having to evacuate after a tropical storm swept through overnight Wednesday. One of those slips turned fatal on Welcome Bay Rd in Pāpāmoa after a slip tore through a house about 4am Thursday. Yesterday, it was revealed a grandmother and her grandson were the two people killed in that Welcome Bay Rd landslide. A slip has narrowly missed a new build home in the Tauranga suburb of Welcome Bay, viewed from Te Auhi Reserve on January 24, 2026.

Construction of foundations have begun on the former Bayfield Bowling Club site, where 18 new terraced townhouses are expected to be completed by November. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSHAnother town housing project is about to spring up in Dunedin — this time on the former Bayfield Bowling Club site in Bayfield Rd. Developer/building company TGC Homes director Charles Blair said the 3200sqm site would be called The Green, and would contain 18 terraced townhouses. The townhouses would be a combination of three-bedroom, two-bathroom; two-bedroom, two-bathroom; and three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouses with garages, with prices ranging from $599,000-$765,000, he said. An artist’s impression of the new terraced townhouses which will be built in Bayfield Rd.

However, unlike other areas of Sudan, El Amrani says where she is stationed is relatively quiet and peaceful, as the Government army – the Sudanese Armed Forces – currently control the area. The fighting is mostly strategic and not directed at random individuals or aid workers, El Amrani says. El Amrani checks on a sick child at Bashair Teaching Hospital in Sudan. In her living quarters, El Amrani has access to cold running water and is given meals of meat with bread and rice or falafel. El Amrani, who quit her role at Hawke’s Bay Hospital, has had an abiding calling throughout her life.

The chief coroner says identifying victims will be complex and time consuming. Video / Alyse Wright, Jason Dorday, Annabell ReidResidents are being evacuated this evening on the East Coast over landslide risks Civil Defence says are posing “potential risk to life”. Civil Defence has ordered around 30 houses evacuate in Onepoto and parts of Te Araroa, after finding evidence of unstable land in close proximity to houses yesterday. “Significant landslide risk had been identified but no geotech assessments have yet been completed,”Tairāwhiti Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group Controller Ben Green said. “We need to be confident there is no risk to life and until this has been completed they will not be returning,” Green said in a statement released by Gisborne District Council this evening.

Sir Tim Shadbolt passed away in Invercargill last week. But what really went on in Sir Tim Shadbolt’s final stint as New Zealand’s longest-serving mayor? Sir Tim Shadbolt was New Zealand's longest serving mayor. Sir Tim's final term was marked by controversy. After losing the mayoralty, Sir Tim withdrew almost entirely from public life.

For the Powerball jackpot to be claimed, a ticket-holder must get all six Lotto numbers correct as well as the added Powerball number. How to check if you won the $4m Lotto Powerball jackpotFor the Powerball jackpot to be claimed, a ticket-holder must get all six Lotto numbers correct as well as the added Powerball number. One lucky Kiwi could be millions of dollars richer after tonight’s $4 million Powerball jackpot draw. Tonight’s lucky numbers were 16, 40, 1, 21, 3, 13. What to do if you winTicket holders can see immediately title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/lotto-powerball-jackpot-hits-33m-financial-adviser-on-what-lucky-winner-should-do/VH55W2HRSFFVNLWQ4KEO6GQUBQ/">if they have won if they purchased a ticket through MyLotto.

Former army major Simon Strombom is the managing director of the NZ Remembrance Army and served in Afghanistan. Strombom told RNZ he commanded troops from Nato nations and found them exceptionally professional. “I was heavily exposed to the professionalism and the challenges that the Nato, particularly British and the Canadian, troops had,” he said. “I’ve always had a hell of a lot of respect for the discipline of British troops, and the professionalism of them, even down to their territorial army,” he said. Trump's NATO Afghanistan claim condemned as insult to fallen troops.

Reserve Bank Governor Anna Breman. Photo / Mark MitchellNew Zealand became a global leader when the Reserve Bank Act 1989 was passed. Arguably, it is the Reserve Bank board – particularly its chair Rodger Finlay – which is the appropriate sounding board for the governor. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s forthright speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos has been a lightning rod for plain speaking. For business people who had not travelled before with the Prime Minister and observed him close up, this was a revelation.

New Zealand Rugby has been increasing the offshore matches played by the All Blacks. In the past four years, the All Blacks have played in the USA, Japan twice, and London three times for the money those bigger venues generate. All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, at Soldier Field, in Chicago, where his side played Ireland last year. By comparison, in Graham Henry’s first four years (2004-2007) as head coach, the All Blacks played 47% of their tests away from home. In Steve Hansen’s first four years as head coach (2012-2015), the All Blacks played 54% of their tests away from home.

Cordons are in place and a police tent has been erected at the property this morning. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERYA homicide inquiry is under way after the death of a woman at a Clutha property. He confirmed this morning that a woman had died in Crichton and a man remained in a critical condition in hospital following the incident. Stuff is reporting that a family member confirmed the woman as Milton vet Jillian Clark and the critically injured person as her partner. The property is cordoned off this morning and a guard in place while police conduct a scene examination.