Southern images: July 16-30, 2011

LISTEN UP: Dan the Puppet Man entertains the children at Kidzone.

MISSED SHOT: Fish and Game Southland resource management officer Jacob Smyth shows one of the 11 confiscated guns from the duck shooting season.

VOLUNTEERING: David Tua - he could give you a helping hand around the house.

AMAZING WORK: One.61 director Derek Manson holding a guitar made by the 3-D printer behind him.

SENSITIVE: Southland District Mayor Frana Cardno at the Southland Art Society-ILT Art Awards with the winning painting by Chris Wilkie, A Pathway of Light (for Murray), which was dedicated to her late husband Murray Cardno.

PURPLE PATCH: Hokonui Fashion Design Awards model Jess Crowther is masked up in this creation for the new steampunk section by Tapanui woman Vicky Purple.

SOFTER RIDE: Gill Wikstrom, of Queenstown, was flown to Southland Hospital after she injured her hip. Queenstown St John advanced paramedic Keith Raymond, right, was in the chopper with Mrs Wikstrom.

SHY HERO: Bus driver Sam Walters has been nominated for the 2011 Beaurepaires Highway Heroes award.

HELLO THERE: Dorothy performs in front of a southern crowd in Invercargill.

PERIOD PIECE: Westpac business development manager Murray Heath marks 150 years of the bank's existence by visiting its oldest customer, Frances Maude Wilson, 108, at Vickery Court, in Invercargill.

REMAINS: Ohai chief fire officer John Hogg checks out the building that burned to the ground in Birchwood Rd, Ohai. The owner lost everything but escaped with his dog.

CODE CALL: Southern Aqua Shark Experience owner Mike Haines is working on an industry code of conduct.

I SEE: Jackson and Wills service manager John Laughton with the in-car cameras being installed in Blue Star taxis. Driver John Mitchell is on the video screen.

FASHION AS ART: Otago University professor Hilary Radner, left, and Dr Natalie Smith with some of the 70-odd items in their Nom*d The Art of Fashion exhibition at the Eastern Southland Gallery.

BIG TOTAL: Campbell Johnstone, 10, with the $4500 he raised for the Cancer Society, sits with his nan Anne Johnstone and Stags skipper Jamie Mackintosh.

GOOD POINT: A sign in Athol gives motorists a timely reminder of road risks.

TASTE OF KIWI: Invercargill Brewery bottlestore and dispatch manager Duane Morton shows off the craft beer the company is exporting to the United States.

HIGH-FLIER: Finnigan Buckley, 11, gets some big air on his scooter at the skate park on Elles Rd in Invercargill, as he fills in the school holidays.

CULTURE LINK: Arjan van der Boon, of Auckland, left, shows the blue Delft tile that inspired the planned Dutch Connection museum foyer with Invercargill Dutch Club president Peter Grandiek and Kees Zegwaard. Dutch navigator Abel Tasman sailed to NZ in 1642-43 long before Captain Cook.

HISTORIC FIND: Joan and Rex Watson show author Bill O'Brien, centre, magazine articles about the rediscovery of the takahe. The couple were with Dr Geoffrey Orbell when he found the bird. O'Brien is writing Dr Orbell's biography.

IT'S SNOW-TIME! Playing at home instead of at Kidzone are Limehills children, from left, Amelia, 9, Isabella, 3, Ruby, 5, and Jayne Anderson.

GRAND TOUR: Mark Heslip, left, with his farming partners Rachel and Paul Heslip, of Glen Affric Station, reflect on their trip to United Kingdom supermarkets that sell their Southland grown lamb.

HOLIDAY DILEMMA: Southern Institute of Technology student and Southland Times photographer Doug Field is disappointed he won't be able to see his daughter, Mikayla, until Christmas because of school holiday clashes.

THE MIGHTY PRIZE: Stag Micheal Peterson holds the Ranfurly Shield high as the Stags are welcomed home from Christchurch by a huge crowd at Invercargill Airport. Stags beat Canterbury 22-19.

SNOW KNIGHT: Mad Butcher Sir Peter Leitch has fun in the snow in Invercargill.

HEAD-HUNTED: Kurt Shearing, from Riverton, admiring the deer trophies, all taken from the Longwoods, on display at the Tuatapere RSA during the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association annual conference.

PRETTY PONIES: Three-year-old Clodagh Greene, of Mandeville, is captivated by Cheryl McKenzie's horse painting. Clodagh, her twin sister Eilish and parents Morgan and Liz were among the many visitors to take refuge from the snow at the Riversdale Arts mixed-media exhibition. The 38th annual exhibition got off to a successful start, with more than $10,000 in sales.

AIR BAG A HIT IN THE SNOW: Snowboarder Matt Ayton, 22, of Sydney, takes to the air at the Remarkables ski field courtesy of the newest toy on the mountain a 15m by 8m inflatable air bag. The bag is the first of its kind in New Zealand. It was trialled at various ski fields last year and is now moving between ski fields on demand.

MEAN THEFT: The Robb family, from left, Jasmin, 15, Agnes, and Jorgee, 10, had eight swedes stolen from their stall near Lumsden.

STEPPING UP: New Rugby Southland chairman Paul Menzies at home in Winton.

COOL RIDE: New Zealand luge coach Guntis Rekis takes a slide on the luge track in preparation for the Naseby Ice Festival at the Naseby Ice Adventure Park.

JUST CHIPPING IN: Isla Bank farmer Phillip Rangi has a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

HONOUR: Southland District Mayor Frana Cardno presents Craig MacGillivray with the Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal and certificate. Mr MacGillivray raced to save a young man trapped in a burning car, he managed to wrench the door open and pull the young man to safety. Seconds later, the car exploded into flames.

STILL WILD: Riversdale Arts president Debbie Schriek carefully hangs this life-like painting by South African Sean Webster, who lives near the Northern Southland township.

ALL ABOARD: Katie Balloch, 2, is in the driver's seat for the family project with her siblings, behind from left, Bradley, 7, Samuel, 9, and Emily, 5, during the school holiday. The Invercargill City Council is challenging residents to use their creativity and find a use for the now-redundant green recycling crates.

ENTHRALLED: Venture Southland tourism marketing manager Meryl Jupp is looking forward to promoting Southland on a national and international level.

TEAM WORK: The youngest designer in this year's Hokonui Fashion Design Awards, Trelise Wadsworth with mum Lisa.

MAKING HER POINT: Bluff resident Linda Bell beside the Ravensdown storage shed on Bluff's main street, with her petition calling for no more industrial buildings to be built on the town's main street.

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: Overseas doctors Liz Hourihan, left, originally from New York, and Tanja Groot, from Amsterdam, are working at Winton Medical Centre in Central Southland.

RECORD: Southland Sharks' basketballer James Paringatai is believed to have achieved the highest individual points tally in the history of Southland A grade club basketball after scoring 73 points for the Northern Tavern Vikings.

GOLDEN SUNSET: A striking sunset over the Waihopai heralds another frosty night for Invercargill.

RING OF LIGHT: This beautiful ring around the sun over Invercargill was captured by The Southland Times photographer John Hawkins.

SPEEDY MECHANICS: Fastest spanner competition chief judge Barry Paterson with the Toyota engines that will be used at the competition at the Ascot Park Hotel, Invercargill. Eight to 12 teams of two technicians from across the region will get the chance to race their way through dismantling and reassembling a Toyota engine.

GREAT GIFT: Winton librarian Raewyn Patton, Jackielou Masajo and three-year-old Kyle Masajo check out the library's new Filipino library books.

MOVING ON: Gore's top police officer, Senior Sergeant Steve Gregory, who leaves after eight years in the town.

ROAD CRASH: Three people were taken to Southland Hospital in Invercargill after this car rolled end-over-end off State Highway 94 between Mossburn and Gorge Hill.Constable Dwight Grieve inspects the car while Constable Heather Wyllie is pictured beside the Mossburn fire truck.

WONDER DOG: Joanne Rennell leads her Parson Russell Terrier, Ruffy, through the weave poles at the Southland Dog Training Club agility class. The classes are held at the club on Lindisfarne St, Invercargill.

BIG BOOST: KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn at the Invercargill depot. KiwiRail is spending millions of dollars upgrading Southland infrasture after freight movements more than doubled in the past year.

HOLD ON SON: Nigel Dobson and his son Taylor, 6, try out the Naseby luge for the first time at the Naseby Ice Festival.

TWISTED METAL: This car, still in Tweed St, was found by a taxi driver after the motorist had lost control of the vehicle and had crashed into a light pole.

LOOKING GOOD: Poultry judge David Service examines a brown leghorn rooster at the National Poultry and Pigeon show held at the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill.

RED AND BLACK FOREVER: Middle School principal Stan Tiatia with Mickayla Lay and Anton McCallum, 10, and fellow classmates dressed in red and black to support Christchurch as part of of the nationwide `Big Chip In for Christchurch', an initiative urging people to help out those suffering in the quake-ravaged city.

BUCKET BRIGADE: Lone Star Cowboys walking Invercargill streets to sell Red Nose Day noses and badges, from left, Spadie Gage, Hami Gemmell, Billy Cooper, Levi Gage and Shannon Gage.

HURRAH FOR MR CAYFORD: Retiring Te Anau School principal Terry Cayford celebrates his last day at the school with pupils at a surprise morning assembly.

RUINED: Mataura couple Josh and Lisa Renton survey the damage caused by the fire that destroyed their home. Embers from the fire he had just lit in his living room sparked on to the carpet. It developed into a blaze that not only endangered his own life, but those of his wife Lisa's two preschoolers.