Southern images: October 1-15, 2011

THE JOY OF SPRING: A pair of kereru, New Zealand's only native pigeon, perform aerial manoeuvres around a branch bearing spring blossom in Te Anau.

QUAKE RECALLED: The Supreme award winning entry from the Mirror WoolOn Creative Fashion Event. The garment, called Tribute to Christchurch Cathedral, was designed by Alexandra woman Daphne Randle and was modelled by Leteisha Pentelow, from Cromwell.

ENTHUSIASM: Team manager Rata Stoneman shows her co-workers how to shake it during a Zumba presentation in Wachner Place, Invercargill.

POPULAR CAUSE: Pink Ribbon Day volunteer Margaret Flannery collects a donation from Pam Clay of Invercargill.

TIPTOE THROUGH TAY TULIPS: Tulips brighten up the Tay St centre plot in Invercargill by the First Church.

WOMEN OF STYLE: Rural Women New Zealand Central Southland president Patsy Gordon, right, and committee member Maureen Hamilton will celebrate the International Day of the Rural Woman with a Trendy Shoesday Tuesday.

SAFE: Four generations of one family, including a 90-year-old woman, fled from an Invercargill house when a wall heater caught fire and filled a room with smoke. From left are Harrison Booth, Josh Booth, Cambell Booth, Joy Rees (sitting), Joss Depree, Rochelle Booth and Mitchell Booth.

SIGN HERE: Pact community support workers, from left, Hailary McGilligan, Ora Barron and Diana Hawkes with their petition in South City. Pact community workers sought signatures for a petition asking Pact to negotiate with workers and to offer more than a ``measly'' 1 per cent.

INNOVATIVE: Lumsden rugby fan Nelson Clarke with his 'Go All Blacks' carved tree trunk on his front lawn.

FIRE-DAMAGED: The charred remains of a Bates Transport stock truck which caught fire near Mossburn, the driver had been loading cattle when he noticed flames under the truck and unloaded the stock. It appeared the fire started from an electrical fault.

DAMAGE CONTROL: Senior firefighter John Cox hoses down a mattress that caught fire in an Invercargill woman's house. An Invercargill man wen to the aid of his distressed elderly neighbour and they left the house together. It appeared an electric blanket had been left on which sparked the bed fire.

BAD TIMES: Te Anau man Bill Jarvie surveys the damage to kowhai lining the town's lakefront.The damage was being caused by an infestation of leafroller caterpillars, which had been eating the leaves of the Kowhai. Treating the infestation could damage the kowhai as well.

ACTIVE ROLE: Sharks power forward James Paringatai, with nine-week-old son Cooper-James, will be a local ambassador after Southland Basketball joined up with the Invercargill Family Violence Focus Group to help promote the national ``Blow the Whistle'' campaign.

BY THE BOOK: Whitebaiters work the surf for whitebait at the mouth of Wakapatu Stream, about 20 kilometres west of Riverton. A covert Conservation Department operation was carried out at the stream to catch out illegal whitebaiters, but no-one was caught.

FAIR FISHING: DOC's Murihiku compliance and law enforcement ranger Kelwyn Osborn confiscates an unattended whitebait net at Wakapatu Stream.

STARTING LINE: McMillan Art chairman Russell Coats, left, and bronze sculptor Roddy McMillan work on the foundations for a bronze statue of Burt Munro near the Feldwick Gates to be unveiled in November.

BATTERED: An 80-year-old Invercargill man was taken to Southland Hospital after he was knocked off a mobility scooter when it and a car collided in Invercargill. The man sustained a gash to his head, and the driver of the vehicle was uninjured.

INJURY ACCIDENT: The wreckage of two vehicles after a collision near Lorneville. Two people were taken by ambulance to Southland Hospital with minor injuries.

HANDOVER: The outgoing head of the Invercargill police strategic traffic unit, Kerrin Price, right, prepares to hand the reins to his successor, John Pine, in Invercargill. Kerrin Price has been a long-serving police officer in the south for 44 years.

FUNDING REPRIEVE: Number 10 board chairwoman Vanessa Hughey in front of Southland's One-Stop Youth Shop.

TO THE RESCUE: John Roderique, left, and Lindsay Woodrow, both from Port Maintenance in Bluff, get set to fly out of Invercargill to help with the oil spill cleanup off the coast of Tauranga.

WALKING TALL: Public Health South health promoter Andrae Gold, foreground, on the Hikoi for Happiness walk through Queens Park, Invercargill to mark the beginning of Mental Awareness Week.

PICNIC IN THE PARK: Celebrating the sunshine and the school holidays by having a picnic in Queens Park in Invercargill were, from left, Andrew Miller, 18, Emily Duthie, 17, from Southland Girls' High School, Madison Miller, 12, from Te Tipua School and Olivia Miller, 16, from Southland Girls' High School.

THE BIG PICTURE: Warren McNabb, of Energy3, shows Bluff Community Board member Charles Te Au artists' impressions of the wind farm. Energy3 held a public open day in Bluff for residents to come and view plans and discuss the wind farm idea. The proposed wind farm near Bluff would be able to be seen from Invercagill and Riverton.

SCOUTS CELEBRATE: Sea Scouts Thomas Glew, 13 (coxswain), left, Sam Welsh, 12 (leading hand), and Jack Welsh, 14 (coxswain), at the Jellicoe Sea Scouts' 75th reunion at the Stead St wharf. More than 60 people attended the reunion, where for the first time in 15 years boats were sailed on the Invercargill estuary. The organisation plans to upgrade its three dens to cater for the next 20 years.

KEEPING THEIR HATS ON: Medieval swordfighters Stu Robertson and Zane Knight at the Transition Town eco festival in Invercargill.

DEFYING GRAVITY: The Royal Australian Air Force C17 Globemaster as it passed over Invercargill. The plane was the fifth to join the TAAFs C17 feet, having been delivered last month frm the United States. The C-17 transport, with its high wing and four engines, can deploy troops, combat vehicles, heavy equipment and helicopters rapdily anywhere in the world. it can either drop its cargo by parachute or land it and can operate on narrow taxiways.

WRECKED: A fireman battles a blaze which swept through a derelict classroom block at the former Rockdale Park School in Invercargill. This was the second fire since the school's closure six years ago.

DEVASTATED: The inside of a campervan, used by French tourists, which caught fire. The three French tourists, who parked up for the night at Beach Road Holiday Park, went to a common area in the park to watch France beat England in the Rugby World Cup. It looked as if there was an electrical fault with the heater.

RACE-READY: Kerri Mason's Bluff house was ready for the big Bathurst 1000 V8 race.

TOTAL MAKEOVER: The Body Bar owner, Tania Roderique, and Talking Heads hairdressing studio owner, Jakki Carter, will join forces when their new shop opens in the main street of Riverton.

HEAT AND LIGHT: Oscar McKissock, of Pipework, with an outdoor gas heating system on display at the Transition Town eco festival in Invercargill.

IT FOLLOWED HER TO SCHOOL ONE DAY: Willow Carter, 3, takes her pet lamb, Chewy, for a walk at the Lochiel Primary School pet day.

ECO GARDENER: Transition Town Invercargill member Dominican Sister Judith Robinson tends her sustainable peace garden.

STRESSFUL TIMES: Invercargill-based Tokelauan Ana Pereira with her daughter Nthswana. The remote islands are running out of drinking water.

SHORE IS FUN: Simon Swain makes the most of the good weather, taking his dog Skidee for a run on Oreti Beach, near Invercargill.

FAST LEARNERS: Southland Girls' High School year 13 science students, from left, Nichoel Hammond, Grace Smith, Angela Smith, Hayley Willlaims, Stephanie McManus and Emma Bell have spent seven days working on projects at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.

GRINDING ON: Allied Concrete has been awarded $190,000 by the Ministry for the Environment which they will use to recycle 4000 tonnes of glass near Oreti Beach.

WORSE FOR WEAR: The Toyota Corona that crashed into a fence on Rockdale Rd, north of Boxall St. Three young children were taken to Southland Hospital.

SHORTAGE GROWS: Southern District Health Board professional adviser and co-ordinator of occupational therapy, Katy Rowe, with one of the few overtoilet frames Southland Hospital has in its quipment storage unit.

RECOGNISED: Community support workers Raewyn Evans, left, and Karen Moynihan are overjoyed they will soon receive backpay for sleepover shifts.

BOREDOM BUSTERS: Saints & Sinners are bringing the school holidays to life this month with two all-ages music events. One of Invercargill's top club DJs, DJ Kposs, will spin the decks.

GREEN FINGERS: Bluff Community School pupils Siahn Nilsen, left, and Lily-Mae Campbell, both 5, plant a cabbage tree at the official opening of the native plant nursery.

LIMBERING UP: Dancers, from left, Erika Deans, 11, Sakara Whyte, 11, Gabrielle Balloch, 11, and Emily Balloch, 5, from Fuel Fitness and Health will be competing with more than 100 dancers in the Southland Competition Society contest at Centrestage Theatre.

BIG CHIPS: South Wood Export general manager Graeme Manley with the eucalyptus woodchips that are becoming Southland's major wood export.

CONTAMINATED: More than 4000 tonnes of glass have piled up at Southern Aggregates near Oreti Beach. The Invercargill City Council has bought a glass crusher from the United States but it will not be used to get rid of this stockpile.

ROUSING CHALLENGE: Mararoa School pupils perform the opening haka at the combined Te Anau-Mararoa schools We Are Unique music festival. Most of the songs performed were written by the pupils to express what it is that makes their classroom unique. The words were put to well-known tunes.

40 into 20 = hard: Sam Jarvie, 12, and Morgan Finlay, 11, are members of a James Hargest College year 7 team which competed in the annual SMAC Maths competition. The event is sponsored by the New Zealand Association of Mathematics Teachers and Casio, and sees teams from Bluff to Wakatipu compete against each other to answer 40 maths problems in 20 minutes.

GREEN MOTIVES: Making plans for the Thomsons Bush makeover are (from left) Westpac staff Lewis Risk, Lydia Brunton, and Andrew Moreton, Invercargill City Council parks manager Robin Pagan and Southland Spirit of a Nation brand manager, Gerry Forde.

HEADQUARTERS: Almost 50 photographs of past presidents of the Southland Women's Club surround current president Beth Cairns, who will chair the 90th birthday celebrations.

SHE'S GOT THE BUG: Southland Girls' High School pupil Julia Harvey was one of 50 winning entrants in a New Zealand Post book competition.

SPRUCE UP: YMCA Alternative Education tutor Nikia Harrison, right, and student Gene Renton survey camp Omaui, which will be undergoing an overhaul soon.

GAME FACES: Pupils, from left, Jack Preston, 13, Isabella Copinga, 10, Liam Andrews, 12, Dante MacVey, 8, Kendall Hughes, 11, and John Marron, 10, are pumped up for Drummond Primary School's mini-Rugby World Cup.

SOMETHING SPECIAL: Kotuku hold special significance for Maori and winning this impressive trophy has certainly been poignant for Blue Mountain College student Mia Broad.

WEE WINDSOR: SPCA administrator Jenny MacDonald with the two-week-old kitten found sealed inside a plastic bag and dumped in a rubbish bin on Windsor St in Invercargill. The kitten is now being cared for by the SPCA.

`WORLD' CLASS FARE: Donovan Primary School's room 4 pupils, from left, Theone Kennard, Jason Hargest, Katelyn Nicol and Liam Mackenzie and their classmates tuck into a delicious lunch after winning The Southland Times' Where in the World classroom competition.

BLOOMING LOVELY: Te Anau District Spring Flower Show committee spokeswoman Judy Matthews checks her daffodils in preparation for the annual event.

OPEN ALL HOURS: Southland Museum and Art Gallery Trust Board member Darren Ludlow checks out the space soon to house the Pyramid on Gala cafe.

MOVING IN: Work and Income branch manager Bruce Campbell outside the agency's new Gala St premises.

LAST ORDERS: After 26 years of service at the Level One Restaurant in Invercargill's Kelvin Hotel, ``kitchen mother'' Irene O'Connor has rolled up her apron and put away her serving spoons for the last time. The 70-year-old started her kitchen career at the Wharf Cafe in Bluff.

TREASURED STOCK: David Marshall, of Taramoa near Wallacetown, working with his angus beef stud stock, which can be traced back to the 1860s. Southern angus beef farms are being boosted by the popularity of McDonald's angus burgers in the region.

SPOTLIGHT: Queenstown bouncer Jonathan Dixon, after he appeared in the Queenstown District Court. Jonathan Dixon, 40, was remanded on bail when he appeared in the Queenstown District Court on a charge of accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes. Dixon was involved in the Tindallgate saga'.

BE PREPARED: Rimu School pupil Isaac Thompson, 8, and his classmates are collecting items for their emergency survival kits to ensure their families will be prepared for a natural disaster.

FAMILY WORK: David John with his model, daughter Fineen, and his Macalister Award-winning painting at the Anderson Park Art Gallery.

IT TAKES TWO: Twin sisters Miah, left, and Lillie Yeo with their aunt Molly Yeo at Invercargill's Queens Park for the start of Multiple Birth Awareness Week. About 20 sets of twins gathered for a picnie and catch-up.

SWEET REMINDER: Georgia Thomas, 9, tests pink Breast Cancer Awareness cupcakes, which were flying off the shelf at the craft market at Invercargill's Masonic Lodge. Invercargill joint co-ordinator Lesley Soper said Let them Eat Cupcakes had provided about 80 cupcakes for the event and people were being generous and spending up large. The Pink Army would be collecting at sites across the city for the main Breast Cancer Awareness street appeal on Friday, October 14.

FEELING BLUE FOR A CAUSE: Grace Anderson, of WHK Accountants, releases balloons with workmates to mark the end of Blue September prostate cancer awareness month. About a dozen balloons were released from the Spey St car park.

THIN BLUE LINE: Inspector Lane Todd, second from right, made a visit to meet the team at the Te Anau police station. With him are, from left, Constable Chris Boulton (Te Anau), Constable Mark Ford (Lumsden), Sue Jones, Barbara Kane, Constable James Ure, Constable Dwight Grieve, Constable Glenn Matheson, Senior Constable Alan Johnston, and Sergeant Tod Hollebon, all of Te Anau, Senior Sergeant Richard McPhail, of Gore, and Constable Heather Wyllie.

RAISING AWARENESS: Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Appeal co-ordinator David Melmoth, left, and Damon Milne of Zookeepers Cafe with pink cupcakes, donated by Mataura's Let them Eat Cupcakes, and pink ribbons to mark the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which starts ton October 1.

READY FOR ACTION: Nikora Cooper, 9, of St Joseph's School kapa haka group, performs before ABC childcare pupils kicked off a day of Rippa rugby at Rugby Park in Invercargill.

GETTING STARTED: Liam Sheehan and Charlie Winter play at the Gladstone Music and Movement Plunket Group.

STARTING OVER: Amalgamated Builders site foreman Bruce Molloy, left, and Stadium Southland general manager Nigel Skelt await the first truss being hoisted into place.

ALL SYSTEMS GO: Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks, left, Southland DisAbility Enterprise chairman Thursa Kennedy and Ray Harper take a tour through the Southland DisAbility Enterprise recycling centre at its official opening.

SNIP SNIP: Reigning shearing World Champion Damian Boyle, of Western Australia, in action at the 50th New Zealand Merino Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Alexandra. Boyle is under the watchful eye of shearing judge Fred Parker, of Roxburgh.